A Faunus Born in Spring
by Mr. Blender
Summary: With the amount of obstacles Yang and Blake have overcome, shouldn't parenthood be a snap? Right. As if a faunus/human baby wasn't a trouble to take care of, a shadowy organization seems to have an interest in the young hybrid. Yang and Blake must team with friends of old to ensure the safety of their child, as well as raise her properly. -A sequel to Wedding in the World of Snow-
1. Chapter 1

"Yeesh, the belly's getting' awful big, ain't it?"

The blonde has her shirt pulled slightly up, glancing at the pregnant bump on her stomach. She had to admit that it was weird for her to see, used to seeing her abs there. She glances over as she hears the sounds of her girlfriend as she peeks into the bathroom.

"Yang, it's not that bad. And, besides, you're going to look beautiful no matter how your belly gets, all right?" Blake says as she walks a little further into the bathroom, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend from behind. Yang had been performing her daily glance at herself as she brushed her teeth and, as usual, Blake was right there to reassure her. Hands move to lovingly stroke the bump that has since moved over once rigid abdomen. Her slightly kinked tail (a useful appendage for calming Yang down) gently brushes along Yang's hip, drawing a soft sound from her. "Trust me, you're gorgeous."

"Ya spoil me too much, ya know… I might as well be addicted to Blake snuggles, now…" She says, leaning back against her girlfriend with a sigh. "Guess I'm just gonna have to get used to it. It's gonna get harder to move around, so I've heard. That kinda sucks. Though… I think I could feel a lil' better if a certain special lady wants to give me a massage~"

"You and your massages…"

"Hey, how can I help it when my girlfriend has goddess fingers? Oh, especially when you do that kneading move, there… It's really purr-"

"Yang, if you finish that sentence, you can just lay right down on that bed and forget all about anything like a massage."

"Yes, ma'am." Yang says with a chuckle, gently putting her hands over Blake's as they lay on her tummy. She adjusts her tank top a bit, the slightly tight fabric needing to be moved to a more comfortable position. "Well, I'm ready, if you're ready…"

"You really should start thinking of maternity wear, Yang… I don't think that tank top is going to-"

"Hold my mass expansion of boobage?"

"I was going to say 'be comfortable on you that much longer', but whatever you want to say. The point is, we need to get something that you'll be comfortable in. Not something that squeezes you or is too tight."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll do that tomorrow, how does that sound? We can drag Ruby and Weiss along for the ride! Ruby's said she wanted to go shopping for baby clothes with me for weeks, now, too. We can get all prepared for the baby while gettin' me some comfortable lazy clothes. Hit two birds with one stone, right?"

"I suppose we could. We'll give them a call tomorrow. I made the mistake of calling them at night, once. It isn't something I wish to repeat."

"Ohhhh… Were they sleepin'?"

"No, they weren't. Nooo, they weren't…"

"Oh…"

"Yes."

"They were…?"

"Exactly."

"How much did you hear?"

"The panting was enough."

"Yikes."

"Weiss gets this strange rasp to her voice when she's doing such activities, apparently."

"An', with that, this conversation is over. Massage time, kitty cat. Take my mind away from the dark place you just brought it."

"You were the one who asked." Blake says, giving a few little nips to the back of Yang's neck with a purr. "Go lay down, I'll be out in a second. I just have to change-"

"Into your sexy-as-hell kimono thingy? You sure do know how to spoil a girl, Blake-y~" Yang says, spinning around to plant a wet kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "How do ya want me?"

"However you want to be, Yang."

"Well, then, I'll be as ready as can be… Get your sexy rear out to the bedroom ASAP, when you finish." Yang whispers, moving her lips to Blake's ear and gently blowing a soft breath against it. Blake shivers a bit at the low, husky tone the blonde uses, never failing to send heat to her face.

Yang pulls back and winks, moving away with a very suggestive sway of her hips. "Really lookin' forward to that massage, Blake." She murmurs with a grin that could melt even the coldest of hearts, slipping out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

Blake must actively work to pick up her jaw after THAT particular display.

Yes. With pregnancy, Blake had discovered, came an increased libido from her lover on occasion. Likely from the various hormones turning the blonde's body into a playground. Though, sometimes she didn't want anything at all and just wanted to snuggle… When she wanted Blake, she made it very obvious. Blake found it very hard to resist such advances, especially when her voice took on that low tone that was full of mischief and promises of a wonderful night. Blake had also discovered that the little bump of Yang's belly was especially sensitive, causing Blake to press many a loving kiss and whisper to the warm skin. They both had ways of making each other unravel into pools of useless goo. Needless to say, they were doing just fine in regards to the bedroom.

She changes quickly into her kimono, her cat ears twitching slightly as she hears Yang humming in the bedroom and… Well, that's the sound of a tank top hitting the floor… Blake bites her lip before slowly walking out of the bathroom, her mouth growing dry as she sees her lover laying on her side (as, it was becoming uncomfortable for her to lay directly on her stomach) with the top of her body completely bare. Her back faces Blake, though her head is moved so that she can peer over her shoulder to look at her girlfriend with that heart-throbbing grin of hers.

"Ready enough for ya?"

Oh, this was going to be a wonderful night.

* * *

"Awww, it's so cuuute!"

"I know, isn't it just the best thing ever?"

Yang grins at the little outfit in her hands, her younger sister joining her in her enthusiasm for it. The redheaded huntress speeds ahead, petals bleeding off her as she grabs another outfit. "Oh, oh! How about this one? This one's adorable, too! So much cuteness, I can't take it!"

"Oh, you're right!"

Ruby takes a big slurp of fruity drink she picked up along the way to the store before another outfit gains her attention, leading her sister over to it with a giggle.

Blake walks slowly behind the two chirping sisters with Weiss (the alabaster haired woman huffing a groan of 'Be careful, you dolt! I'm not paying for the destruction of store shelves, again!'), her ears flicking slightly as she bites her lip. "I hate to say it, but we're going to have to put a lot of those back… We don't really have the money to get all this right now. Besides, that's too many baby clothes-"

"Consider it a gift."

"What do you mean… Wait… Weiss, no."

"No, what, exactly?"

"You're not buying these for us."

"I am."

"No, you're not. I'm not going to let you-"

"Blake. I am the owner of a multibillion-lien corporation who barely uses a chunk of her vast fortune for herself. I think I can afford to buy you baby clothes. You can think of it as a gift from me to you two in congratulations. So, shut up and let me buy them, alright?" Weiss huffs, casting a raised eyebrow over to Blake.

"So, what do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything. What part of 'I'm buying them' are you not getting, exactly? Let me put it in terms you may understand, then. I buy clothes for baby. Blake owe nothing. We all happy." Weiss says in a slow, openly mocking tone.

Blake's eyes narrow as she pouts at her friend. "To think, I was your maid of honor. How insulting."

"Oh, yes, it's so horrible receiving free things. It's so horrible that my dearest friend is buying me baby clothes out of the goodness of her heart, boo-hoo…"

"I just…. don't like having to rely on people."

"Blake, it's hardly relying on me to let me buy you clothes for your child. It's not like I'm trying to buy you a mansion. You don't have the money to pay, right now. I'm saying don't worry about it. We're a family. And, family helps each other out. It's supposed to, anyway." Weiss mumbles, looking at Blake with a serious expression. "Let me handle this for you. It's the least I can do for all you and Yang have done for me."

Blake can't help but let a smile slip onto her face at Weiss' serious expression, finally nodding to the woman. "Alright, alright…"

Up ahead, Ruby and Yang are having their own conversation. Yang looks at her sister with a smile as they both look through clothes, leaning against the shelf slightly. "So… How's married life?"

"A lot like normal life, really. Except, I get to roll over to the woman I call my wife and give her smooches! Plus, I think it's really good for her to be away from the Schnee name, y'know? She's MY family, now. So, making her happy makes me happy." Ruby chirps, taking another big sip of her drink.

"So, are ya gonna have kids?"

Ruby promptly proceeds to snort into her drink in surprise, now feeling fruity taste all up her nose as she coughs and sputters. "W-Whaaat?"

Yang grins, raising her eyebrow. "I know you heard me."

"I-I dunno, I, u-um, um, uh…"

"Relax, I was just askin' if ya see it down the road."

"I dunno, Yang. I mean, I'd love to have a kid. Look at how excited I am for YOUR kid. I just… We JUST got married a few months ago and… well, I dunno Weiss' opinions on kids very well…"

"Well, that's somethin' you're gonna have to discuss with her, if ya want it in the future. Look, relax that terrified expression on your face. I didn't say ya HAD to have one, I was just askin' if you ever saw it happening. I got baby on the mind, alright?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll have to talk about it to her, sometime. But, not for a while. I think I'll let some time pass before I bring it up that I'm interested. Especially since we've got a lot of stuff goin' on, at the moment…"

"How so?"

"Well, we've just been really busy, lately. Weiss has been working her butt off to wipe her mother's legacy away from Rose Dust…"

Yang winces slightly as the memory comes back, the insane lengths the Schnee family would go to destroy their daughter. She, herself, had nearly been killed by a sniper in the process. That battle had left them all with unpleasant scars. She and Weiss were lucky enough to have scars that were fairly easy to hide, but Blake and Ruby hadn't been as lucky.

Every time she thinks of how the kinked tail of her girlfriend came into being, she is brought back to the rage she had felt when caving in the chest of mercenary who had caused it. She was brought back to the metallic taste of blood in her mouth as she took another step, absorbing another shot from a high-caliber sniper rifle.

She felt worse, when she saw Ruby. She knew for a fact that Weiss had blamed herself for Ruby's blank eye. But, it was really no one's fault except for their enemy.

"How's the goings? I don't really keep up with the news…"

"It's tough, Yang. Tough on her, tough on me, tough on everyone… A lot of people support her, but there are plenty more that want to cut her down. She's surging progress forward for faunus workers, giving them medical insurances and equal payments… Hell, she even has speeches openly supporting more rights… But, there are people who don't agree with her and have no problems trying to hack her arguments to bits."

Yang nods slowly to Ruby as she speaks, being very used to having her little sister vent to her. For the longest time, Yang was the only person Ruby COULD vent to.

"And, sometimes there are faunus that are accusing her of pretending… Like, pretending that she wants to help, just to get a good image on herself. To trick them or something, it's just…"

"Frustrating."

"Yes! Weiss works so hard to make that company better… And, what does she get in return? Anger, bitterness, and mis-trust. That's not… That's not fair."

"Well, sad to say it, Rubes… I think you know as well as I do that life ain't fair or easy… The bigots can go fuck themselves, but… The faunus have been oppressed for a long time, Ruby. Horrible things have been done to them under Schnee Dust's hand. It's not gonna be an easy transition. Weiss knows that."

"I knew that, too, but… It's more than that. I've been hearing these rumblings that a few faunus are seeing themselves as… superior to humans."

"And?"

"Who would you target, if you were a faunus trying to send a superiority message, Yang?"

"Ah…"

"Yeah, 'ah' is right. So, with all that goin' on, we don't have time to fit a kid in the mix. I'm kinda worried… about you, too."

"Heh… Really? You're worried about me?"

"Don't just laugh it off, Yang. I'm serious. Something about this situation isn't right… I just have a bad feelin', okay? I really think you should have the baby in one of the hospitals owned by Weiss. Y'know, just to make sure."

"Ruby. I may be pregnant, but I'm not any less strong-"

"Damn it, Yang, this isn't about you being strong…!" Ruby says lowly, her one silver eye taking a steely look (though her white eye narrowed, as well). "I didn't want to have to say this, but you're a human giving birth to a faunus baby. I, personally, love it. But, others don't feel that way. You're going to be making enemies on both sides and I don't want you going into labor in a place that can't be ONE-HUNDRED percent sure that nothing bad will happen. With as much anti-human and anti-faunus sentiment as we seem to have boiling over, we can't take ANY chances. For you or your baby."

Yang is taken aback for a moment by her sister's insistence, but relents with a sigh. "Alright, we'll go pop out a baby in Weiss' place. But, how are you so sure that it's such a safe place?"

"It's a place that Weiss finances, Yang."

"Right."

Yang had heard that Weiss had an absolutely brutal background check, of which she personally checked using many resources. Any criminal activity was discussed thoroughly, as well as any other temperaments that they may have had. Weiss wanted to make certain that there was no such activities, however hidden away, going on in her company. From doctors, she was ESPECIALLY insistent to know every bit of schooling they had received. Their job was to help save people, after all.

She seemed quite determined to have no one like her mother associated with her company.

"So… Will you do it?" Ruby asks, having noticed Yang still hadn't exactly given her a definitive answer to her question.

"Yeah, I guess. If it makes ya more comfortable, then who am I to say no to a little extra reassurance?" Yang finally replies, giving a little shrug. "Though, you have to know that I'll pound anyone who tries to touch my baby to death."

"I know, Yang. I'd just feel more comfortable to know my big sis is giving birth in a place I know is safe… y'know?"

"Yeah. So, now that we got that all figured out, why don't we get back to cooin' at baby clothes?"

Ruby lets a happy smile come to her face, nodding slowly. "Of course…"

* * *

"Blake?"

"…"

"Blake?"

"…"

"Blaaaaake…?"

The onyx haired girl's cat ear slowly twitches, finally registering her girlfriend's quiet whispers as it swivels toward the blonde. Though, having no night vision and having a girlfriend whose hair and ears were black as the night, Yang couldn't tell if she was being heard or not.

"Are you awake?"

"I am, now."

"Sorry…"

"Don't be." Blake murmurs, rolling over to look at the blonde as she rubs her eyes. Yang was now quite a bit into her pregnancy, so her being awake or getting up in the middle of the night wasn't uncommon. Especially with the increased pressure on her bladder making her have to get up and pee a number of times during the night. She would always try to be as quiet as she could, but Blake was a very light sleeper and would often crack an eye open to make sure her girlfriend could get there alright. Though, it was uncommon for Yang to directly talk to her…

But, she had somewhat expected the blonde to be tired out from a day walking around with her sister. Especially since Ruby had gone up to almost every to every cute baby outfit (Codeword: EVERY baby outfit) she saw and showed it to her. They, thanks to Weiss' stubborn insistence to buy them the items, now had enough clothes, diapers, toys, stuffed animals, strollers, carseats and blankets to keep them well-prepared for their baby's early childhood. The only thing that kept Weiss from buying food, too, was the knowledge that it could go bad before it was used. She could tell already that their daughter could potentially be spoiled rotten by her aunt Weiss.

Though, the look on the cashier's face when he saw the amount of things he had to scan had been absolutely priceless, she must admit.

She yawns once as she gains her bearings, needing to also blink the sleep out of her eyes, before finally speaking. "What's the matter, Yang?"

Yang fiddles with her fingers a bit, her hands resting on her large belly. She bites her lip and looks at Blake, opening her mouth to say something before closing it. "Um… Never mind, it's stupid. Go back to sleep, if you can…"

"Yang," The woman in question freezes when she hears the tone of Blake's voice, being very low and concerned. "If there's something wrong, just tell me… Is this an uncomfortable position for you? Do you need to be propped up? Is there discomfort in-"

"Do you think I'm pretty?" Yang suddenly blurts out, her cheeks red with a small blush.

Blake is silent for a moment, her ear twitching once before she asks a quiet 'what?'.

The blonde blushes again, her finger-fiddling becoming a bit more nervous after such a simple question. "I, um… I just… wanted to know if you… if you think I'm pretty or not…"

Blake's ear twitches again, her amber eyes shining through the silent darkness of the room. "Okay… So, before I answer this completely obvious question, what brought this on?"

"Well, I was just thinking… I mean, I'm gettin' big… Like… REALLY big. I've got this belly, this really funny waddle in my walk, I got all sorts of nasty stuff comin' outta me, I'm swollen, like, everywhere… I just… Sometimes I feel kinda-"

"Yang Xiao Long, if the words that I think are about to come out of your mouth come out of your mouth… I'm going to be very upset." Blake replies, putting a finger to Yang's lips to cut off that particular train of thought. "Now, I'm going to take my finger off your lips, but I want you to just listen to me. Okay?"

"Mm-hm." Yang mumbles, her voice slightly muffled from Blake's finger being firmly pressed to her lips. She does as she was asked, staying silent when the slender finger of her girlfriend slips off her lips.

"I don't want you talking about yourself like that, Yang… I don't care how big you're getting, how funny you think you move…"

"You forgot about the nasty stuff…"

"What did I say about talking?"

"Sorry."

"Yang, my point is that… You're beautiful. Nothing is ever going to change that and nothing is ever going to change my mind. You should know this, know what I think of you…" Blake murmurs, shifting slightly downwards.

"Um, Blake?"

"Talking."

"R-Right…"

Blake's hand curls under the black maternity shirt over Yang's upper body, gently tugging it upwards to reveal the swell of the blonde's belly. She looks over it for a few silent moments (causing Yang's cheeks to slowly gain a red color akin to her sister's famous cloak) before leaning down to press her lips against the smooth skin.

"Do you feel that?" She asks, gently closing her eyes as she continues to press her lips against Yang's belly. Yang doesn't know what Blake's talking about for a moment, but soon feels a tiny jolt from inside. It brings a small smile to her face, her cheeks still slightly blushing.

"She's kicking…" Yang replies, looking up at Blake.

"That's right… What's happening, here, may be a bit odd to you… But, you will never be anything less than beautiful. You're making life, here… It has its difficulties, yes. But, never think anything less of yourself for any of this… You're beautiful. And, you're always going to BE beautiful. That beauty is going to come to her, too… Both the inside and the out… Yang? Are you crying?"

Yang sniffles a bit, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She lets out an embarrassed cough, looking slightly away. "I'm not cryin'. There's somethin' in my eye."

"Both of them?"

"Aw, shut up…"

Blake laughs quietly and slips up to her girlfriend, wrapping her in a hug. "Somebody, long ago, told me that it was alright to cry… She said 'It's alright to let things out, Blake… It just hurts more to keep 'em inside. If ya ever need a shoulder to cry on… Mine's always there for you.' She was very insistent."

"Do I know this girl?"

"Oh, I don't know… You may have met her once or twice. Does this sound familiar? Tall, blonde, gorgeous, with a smile that could make the rainiest day sunny? " Blake asks, leaning up to kiss Yang's lips with every description.

"Well, she sounds like competition, to me…" Yang says with a smirk, slowly beginning to return the kisses.

"Oh, she's something, all right…" Blake whispers, a sharp bite of her canines making Yang hum pleasantly in response. After a few moments of gentle kissing and nipping, Blake slowly leans back. "You should get some rest, Yang… You had a long day, today. And, we still have something to do, tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Yes, we do… We have something very important to accomplish."

"What's that?"

"You'll have to wait and see, won't you?"

"You're such a tease."

"You know it."

"C'mon, how 'bout a hint?"

Blake looks at Yang with a smirk, opening her mouth as if she's going to give Yang what she wants. "No."

"Aw, you suck…"

"Well, you never complain, when I do."

"Was that supposed to be an innuendo? I'm very disappointed in you, Blake-y. I thought I taught you better than that."

"Worse than that, is what I think you meant."

"Either way, a better innuendo was required."

"Go to sleep, you goofball." Blake says with a chuckle, leaning forward to kiss her girlfriend. "You'll find out tomorrow, Yang."

"Oh, alright. But, you should know how impatient I am, by now…" Yang replies, moving to lay on her side with a small grunt.

"I know very well how impatient you are, sweetie." Blake purrs, slipping behind the blonde and cuddling up to her.

"You do know that I'll probably moving, like, a hundred times during the night, don't you?"

"I'll deal with it, when it happens. Get some sleep, pretty lady."

"What a charmer~"

* * *

"Well, this IS something we haven't thought of doing, yet…" Yang says with a smile, turning to a grin as Blake puts her arm around her shoulder.

The clank of paint cans is heard on the tarp-covered floor as the last of the paint is brought into the room, Blake nodding slowly. "Well, better to paint the nursery sooner rather than later. Can't let your hard work go to waste, can we?"

The nursery, which Yang had enlisted the assistance of her sister for, was a room fitting for a child with the last name of Xiao Long. It was of large size, large enough for a hyperactive toddler to run around in to their heart's content. And, once they had filled it with the gifts that Weiss had bought yesterday, it would no doubt look amazing. It was also located close to Yang and Blake's bedroom, so that was a good thing. If they heard any trouble from either Blake's ears or the baby monitor, they would be able to quickly get there and fix it.

But, before they could set it up… They had to paint it.

"Well, the work wasn't THAT hard… I mean, c'mon, lookit these guns." Yang says, flexing her arms and winking at Blake. "Right~?"

Blake laughs, shaking her head as she picks up a brush and pops the top off of a paint bucket. "Guns of steel, sweetie."

"Knew it. Sooo, what're we painting this like? Ohhh, is this gonna be one of your artsy things? Like… Paint us as angels over the crib or something?"

"W-What? No, I don't… I don't even know how to respond to that. But, yes, I do plan to paint something here- No, not us as angels, Yang, don't even say that again."

Yang closes her mouth with a small laugh, striding forward to stand over her girlfriend and peer into the paint cans. "Purple?"

"Lavender, actually. I think it'll look nice, don't you think?"

"I'm surprised you didn't wanna go with black, or something."

"I don't know, I just don't think that would be a very nice color for a baby's room. I always liked the color… It makes me calm… I was hoping it would have that effect on her, too?"

"Whatever ya think, hun." Yang replies, picking up a brush of her own and spinning it in her hand. "But, what do you want me to do?"

"Well, you…" Blake says, sliding the lavender paint bucket closer to the blonde. "…are going to help me lay down the base color for the room."

"Cool beans."

"Just make sure to spread the coat evenly-"

"I think I know how to slap paint on a wall, Blake. No worries! I got this~" Yang says, plunging her brush into the paint and moving to the wall to start painting it.

Blake merely shakes her head in amusement, needing to hold in her laughter as the blonde begins to hum an off-key tune as she paints. Not wanting to waste any time, Blake picks up her own brush and begins to paint nearby. There's a very content feeling in the room…

For a few moments.

*Splotch*

"Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"You just got paint on me."

"Heh, sorry~"

Blake's ear twitches at Yang's tone, filled with her trademark mischief. "It's alright… It's an old shirt, anyway."

They both go back to painting, Yang's humming filling the room again. Blake isn't hit with any more paint, with her eventually forgetting about it and focusing on the wall. Until…

*Splotch*

"Yang."

"Yes~?"

"You did it, again."

"Silly me~ I'm so clumsy…"

At this, Blake looks over to Yang. Her girlfriend is looking at the wall, slathering the paint on the previously white wall. Her lilac eyes move slowly over to meet Blake's gaze, a smirk coming to her face as she gives the faunus a wink. This causes Blake to raise her eyebrow, realizing that the woman was doing this on purpose. She wanted a war, did she?

"Yes, you really are… Whoops." Blake says, suddenly sliding her paintbrush way to the side and covering Yang's hand with lavender paint.

Yang giggles a bit (one of Blake's favorite sounds, save for… other noises that Yang makes), looking at her now purple hand with a grin. "Ya got me. Congratulations, let's give Blake-y a round of applause!" She begins clapping her hands, the paintbrush still in her hand causing speckles of purple to fly out and hit Blake.

"You're asking for it, Yang!" Blake says aloud, though her laugh is heard bubbling through her words as she wields her paintbrush like a weapon.

"Bring it on, Kitty, I may be preggers, but I still got it~"

Blake moves forward quickly, landing two long smears of paint across Yang's chest before the blonde slaps her own brush on the top of Blake's head. Both of the women laugh, striking their brushes across the other as paint is flung all around in what is no-doubt the paintiest paint war that Remnant has ever known. No side loses and the losses are colorful, though one could say the victor was Blake when Yang had to sit down against the wall to catch her breath.

But, Blake sat right down in front of her, instead.

Both have paint all over their clothes and hair (which Yang had taken remarkably well), Yang panting softly and leaning back as little spurts of laughter escape her. Blake's eyes slowly move to her girlfriend's belly, smiling when she sees a bit poking out from under her maternity shirt. She takes a smaller paintbrush and gently dabs it in the paint they had been using, moving forward to slowly roll the shirt up until the entire roundness of the bump is on display.

"Whatcha doin', now?" Yang's slightly winded voice asks, though she has a smile on her face when she looks up.

"Just a little something…" Blake murmurs, gently stroking the brush along Yang's skin. The cool paint makes Yang shiver a little, causing Blake to gently laugh.

The pregnant blonde watches as Blake paints on her belly, the faunus' tail swaying slowly behind her. It becomes quickly obvious what Blake is doing, Yang's smile growing infinitely more warm and loving as she continues. Yang stays silent the entire time, merely watching.

Blake pulls back when she finishes and Yang laughs. "You're… You're awesome, you know that?"

"I try."

"Silly… You never have to try…" Yang murmurs, her hands moving forward to take Blake's hands in her own and move her closer. Their lips press together in a kiss as soon as they get close enough, though Blake separates after a few moments and slips downward to Yang's stomach.

On Yang's belly is a series of small, purple hearts, the biggest heart being located right where their unborn child rests inside her. Each stroke of each heart is tenderly drawn and elegant, pure love being shown with each one.

Blake leans forward, gently pressing her lips to the center of the largest heart. The faunus begins to softly hum a song she had heard Yang hum countless times, this one never being as off-key as any of the others. Yang had told Blake long ago that it was a song Summer used to sing to her children before bed, a song of comfort and hope.

She wants to pass that on to their child, the feeling that both of her mothers are feeling right now.

Safe, loved, and full of joy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay, everybody! I have been very busy, as of late. x) Hope this makes up for it!**

* * *

"Hey, how's it going? Come on in!" Yang chirps, giving the tall redhead standing in the doorway a big, bone-crushing hug. The woman has to brace herself to avoid dropping the bags in one hand. "Haven't seen ya since the wedding, Pyrrha!"

"We haven't had the time to visit, I'm afraid…" The Amazonian woman says with a polite laugh, patting the blonde on the back. She was one of the few who could actually stand up and give back a hug of similar caliber, the other being Nora, but she instead uses a gentle embrace. "How have you been, Yang?"

"Oh, you know, good and bad. Gotta tell ya, I thought I was prepared for how much pregnancy was gonna knock me on my ass…"

"And, it still knocked you on your ass?"

"Yeah."

"Well, why don't you tell me all about it? Maybe I can give you a few ideas to make the whole thing a little easier on you? Also, um, where would you like me to set the lunch things?"

"That would be great…" Yang says with an exasperated groan, nodding her head and walking into her house as Pyrrha follows along. "Oh! And, just bring 'em in the kitchen. Where's Jaune and Sophia? I thought they were coming with you?"

"Oh, they're coming. Jaune just wanted to have a little talk with her, is all."

"About what?"

"He wanted to make sure she was careful around you. I mean, she's a careful enough girl, but she can get very excitable sometimes…"

"I'm sure I'd be fine, Py. It's not like I'm made of twigs, here. No big, bad wolf's gonna be able to blow me down. That's a certain kitty's job~"

Pyrrha starts laughing, covering her mouth and averting her eyes as Blake comes into the room with dulled eyes. "Do you have to say things like that, whenever our friends come over? I swear, Ruby knows more about our sex life than she ever needed to know…"

"Well, that's partially because you're so eager…"

"And, partially because you forget to inform me that she has a key to our house."

"Aw, c'mon, I said I was sorry for that…"

Blake walks up closer, a slow smirk coming to her face. "Yes, I know. I was joking. Though, I really doubt Pyrrha wants to know-"

"How you blow me down?"

"I don't blow. I devour. There's a difference, Yang."

Pyrrha coughs politely, giving a soft 'hello, again, still here' to let her friends know that she didn't really need to be hearing this conversation. Blake chuckles and moves over to the redhead, giving her a quick hug. "I'm sorry, Pyrrha. It's good to see you again."

"It is good to see you, too, Blake. I see that your discretion is as limited as ever…"

"Yang? Discretion? That may be the best joke you've ever told." Blake replies dryly, getting a playful smack on her shoulder from Yang.

"Aw, shuddup, kitty-kat. Hey, Py, you gonna want anything? Coffee? Booze?"

"You really have alcohol, here?" Pyrrha asks, raising her eyebrow slightly in surprise. "Y-Yang, you're not really…?"

"Huh? Oh, NO. Fuck, no!" Yang says, her eyes widening in realization as to what she had just unknowingly said. "I don't drink it! It's some we've had for a while, is all. Noooo, I drink healthy stuffs for my baby. Who do ya think I am, Pyrrha, a crazy person? I just asked if YOU wanted some in an entirely JOKING way. Yeesh. No alcohol for me."

"She has juice boxes in the fridge. Drinks them like mad." Blake says vaguely as she leans against the wall, her tail flicking a few times. "I believe she said that her favorite was 'Fantastic Fruit Punch'. Followed closely by what she calls 'Goddamn Grape'."

"Blake, you traitor. You're not gettin' any attention from me, tonight."

Blake opens her mouth to reply, but the sound of the front door opening is heard and clomping shoes scuttling around near it. Yang only gives her a wink before she moves out of the kitchen with the cute movements that make Blake smile every time she sees them, likely to go get the door for Jaune and Sophia. When she's gone, Pyrrha looks slowly at Blake with the gentle, kindly smile that has come to define her.

"How is she doing with it? The pregnancy, I mean."

Blake crosses her arms across her chest and nods a bit. "She's doing alright. She's healthy, she's eating alright, about as comfortable as you can be with that much weight in you… She just…"

"Just…?"

"Well… She has just one problem and… it keeps popping up and I don't know how to deal with it."

"Let me guess… She doesn't feel pretty? Or, sometimes regards her body in a slightly poor light?"

Blake's mouth falls open widely in shock, not having any idea how Pyrrha was able to guess so quickly what the problem was. Though, like Yang, Pyrrha was extraordinarily good at reading people, as well as being very adept at solving people problems. "I… How did you know…?"

"If you didn't remember, I had to go through pregnancy in order to have Sophia. So, I may know a thing or two about how pregnancy, Blake."

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't be. But, I think I know the feeling that she's talking about. With everything that's happening to your body, sometimes it's a little hard to see your body as anything beautiful. It's more of a mindset thing. You can't get that image of yourself out of your head, some days…"

"I've told her countless times not to worry so much about her appearance. I think she's beautiful… I had a conversation with her a few nights ago about it, but I can tell she still thinks about it from time to time. I just want to put a stop to it."

"Well, sometimes you can't help things like that. It's just something she has to deal with, herself. It isn't like you can magically change her mind. You can try, though. Jaune certainly did. He could take my mind of my troubles like no one's business, if only for those moments. That really helps."

"What did Jaune do for you?"

"Heh, um… Well, among other things, he would sing-"

"You poor thing."

"No, he's actually gotten a lot better…" Pyrrha says, a small smile coming across her face as she blushes. "He can actually hold a note, now, and his voice isn't quite as shrieky as when we were in Beacon. It's… It's quite a sight to see, especially…"

"Especially?"

"Especially since he only does it for me, now…" The redhead finishes, looking down at her hands with possibly the most gentle smile Blake thinks she's ever seen on Pyrrha's face… and, that was saying something. "Blake, there's not really a way to completely get rid of her self-conscious thoughts, if she's going to think them. Everyone has those moments, sometime. But, what you CAN do is give her are little moments to show her how you feel. Little special things like that. That does well to take your mind off it."

"Mm." Blake replies, a small smile coming to her face. "I think I can do that."

Pyrrha laughs a little, her head giving a small nod. "If there's anyone who can make her feel better, it's you, Blake. Any chance you might let me in on what you're going to do?"

"Well, I was thinking-"

"Thinkin' what?" Yang's voice says, having jumped into the conversation as she came back from the front door. She had a tendency to do that, it seems. Weiss had complained about it more than once, especially when she jumped into intimate conversations.

Apparently, Yang ruined her mood or something.

"Aw, that's so sweet, Blake-y!" The blonde coos, walking up to her girlfriend and giving her a big kiss on the cheek. Subtly, her hand reaches behind to give a pleasant stroke to Blake's tail and causes it to wrap softly around her fingers. "You're such a flatterer."

"I try."

"Okay, you might just get some attention, for that little stunt."

"Good to know." Blake replies with a small laugh, giving a kiss to Yang in turn as Jaune walks into the kitchen.

Sophia moves along after him, her straight red hair swishing behind her as she strolls up to her mother and wraps her in a big hug. It was really quite stunning how much Sophia looked like Pyrrha, even at this age. It was like a little, mini Pyrrha, save for one, striking feature. In place of eyes that would have a rich emerald coloring, there are striking blue. She wonders what her own child will look like. How much of their daughter will look like Yang and how much will she look like her?

Yang moves over to talk with Pyrrha a bit, Sophia happily talking with their conversation as well. Jaune moves up next to her, smiling happily. He's changed quite a bit from his days at Beacon, as they all have. He's actually let a bit of stubble move onto his face, since she saw him at the wedding. She can't help the small laugh that comes from her throat, causing him to raise his eyebrow slowly.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just remembering a time you couldn't grow hair to save your life. You were ecstatic, when that one, tiny hair grew on your chest." She replies simply, causing a laugh to come from the blonde. "I'll bet Pyrrha really likes that, huh?"

"Yeah, she's pretty fond of it. Though, I'd be lying if I said she didn't seem to like me a little more when I'm fresh after a shave. However, Sophia said that I 'looked weird without a beard', so… Now, I'm lost as to which is the proper answer.

"Stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"More like… Stuck between looking attractive for my wife and looking cool for my daughter." He says, raising an eyebrow when Blake begins to snicker. "Hey, you'll be singing a different tune when it's your own kid and wife, Blake."

"I was just basing my opinion off the fact that I will be both attractive AND cool, by the time my daughter is old enough to have an opinion on such things."

"Getting a little cocky, aren't we?"

"Perhaps a little. But, then again, you can't help being a little bit cocky, when Yang is your girlfriend. It rubs off on you a little bit."

"That's true. Heck, I'd say the same for being just her friend, let alone being romantic. She's always had a real confidence about her, even back in Beacon… Hm, no… Especially back in Beacon. Well, that and quite a temper. Speaking of temper, how is she handling the stress? Has she snapped at you, yet?"

"Actually, she's had a surprisingly mellow pregnancy, so far. She's had a moment or two of frustration, but nothing that actually had her explode. She's been more affectionate, if you can believe she could be more than she already was." Blake says, sending a smile in Yang's direction as the blonde talks with Pyrrha. "No complications, either. So, I'm glad for that. Hope it stays that way."

"I'm sure it will, Blake. Yang's healthy, the baby's healthy, and she's in a loving environment with a girl she loves more than anything. What could be a better place for pregnant woman to be? I'm surprised that she hasn't snapped at you, yet, though."

"Why? What, was Pyrrha snappy?"

"Not normally. But, in the mornings, she sometimes muttered that she'd really like to quote/unquote 'impale one of my testicles with her spear', when she had to run to the bathroom to throw up. She apologized profusely, afterward, though. I couldn't blame her, either. I'd be crabby, too, if I had to go through those kinds of things on a day-to-basis… I made sure to do other things to make her feel more comfortable."

"Like serenading her?"

"I- What? Who told you about that?!"

"Ask your wife, I'm sure she'd know all about who."

"Man… I told her not to talk to anyone about that…"

"Why not? To anyone listening to that particular statement, it would just paint the picture of a man who loves his wife… Why wouldn't you want someone to know that?"

"It's embarrassing… and, I'm really not all that good a singer."

"Not to Pyrrha."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You should have seen the look on her face, when she talked about you singing to her. She looked like, if you were here, she would have kissed you right there. It meant a lot to her…"

"Well, I wish I had been there, then. A kiss is always something I could use more of." Jaune chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks over to his wife and daughter. "Hm.. I really lucked out in life… Went from being a shy loser to having the best family a guy could have. If you'd have told me that I would be married to a gorgeous woman with a beautiful daughter all those years ago, I would have called you crazy."

"I know the feeling. I wouldn't have believed that any of us would turn out like we did. I mean, me and Yang together and having a child? You and Pyrrha having a kid? Ruby and Weiss getting married? None of it. Well… Nora and Ren were obvious."

"Oh, yeah."

"Even if we still have no idea where they went for that entire time they were gone. Nora still won't say where they got married, no matter how many times any of us ask. The last time one of us did, I believe that she said that they 'took a rocket ship to the moon and had a festival with comet sprites'."

"Well, that's Nora and Ren for you. Always keeping you guessing." He replies, his gaze softening. "We all turned out alright, didn't we?"

"We really did. Wouldn't have it any other way."

Sophia happens to look back at her father and Blake, a big smile coming to her face as she skips up to them (her red hair swishing in an entirely innocent and childlike fashion). "Daddy, are we going to eat soon? Mom and Miss Xiao Long are talking an awful lot…"

Jaune laughs and reaches down to hoist her up into his arms, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure we can talk while we eat… Not with your mouth full, though, right?"

"I wouldn't do that!"

"Oh, really? Well, I remember a very specific little girl talking with a mouth full of lasagna, last night…"

Sophia pouts in response, crossing her arms across her chest as Jaune snickers and gives her another quick peck on the forehead. "That's not funny, daddy. Mom scolded me."

By this point, Yang and Pyrrha have stopped talking and walked up to join the conversation. Yang gives her trademark hearty laugh, tilting her head a bit as she looks over the group. "Well, it seems like we've got a hungry munchkin who's sick of all our blabbin'… What's say we take a break for lunch, huh?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Weiss groans as a ringing echoes through the house, her eyes moving slowly to the scroll on her nightstand as they open. "Ugh… I swear to Remnant, if this is another person calling me in the middle of the night to request a meeting… How did they even figure out my personal number?" She mutters, feeling a pair of arms wrapping around her waist and hugging her closer.

"Weiiiiiss… Why does your scroll never stop ringing?" Ruby mumbles, burying her face into the pale skin of Weiss' neck. "Make it stop…"

"I'm sorry, sweetie." The woman murmurs in response, pressing a few kisses to the top of her wife's head. "I'll just chew this idiot out and we can get back to our beauty sleep… Not that you need it…"

"Flatterer." Ruby mumbles, nipping at the tender flesh her mouth rests on and drawing a squeak from Weiss. "Just make it quick. I wanna get back to snuggling, if you don't mind too much. I need extra snuggles to remember on my hunt, after all."

"You really think about that while on hunts?"

"All the time. Gives me somethin' to think about, when it's cold."

"Now, who's the flatterer, again? Remind me, once more."

"Just answer the scroll, woman. Double time it before I decide to get mean."

"Mean? Daresay, what do you mean, Ruby?"

"Mean, as in, I'm going to start nibbling all over your tasty neck and enjoying how you squeal over the call." Ruby murmurs into Weiss' skin, giving a few lazy nibbles with her teeth that make her wife squeak a little bit. "Now, c'mooon, Weiss… Snuggles…"

"Mm. Right." Weiss replies with a small sigh, sitting slowly up to grab the still-ringing scroll. She taps the button to receive the call (after adjusting her nightgown to cover her more decently, of course), giving a slightly annoyed 'hello?'. She's in preparation to give this person every icy glare and harsh word she can give for daring to disturb her sleep. Her eyes soften, however, when she sees Blake on the screen. "Oh, it's just you. Do you realize what time it is, Blake? I highly doubt that time zones are very different on different blocks."

Blake smiles a little, her ears flicking slowly as she apologizes. "I had to wait until Yang went to bed before I could call you. I need you and Ruby's help."

When her name is mentioned, Ruby pokes her face into the screen and smiles warmly. "Really? Well, what do ya need?" She asks, her groggy voice making Blake laugh. Ruby was as bad as her sister, when it came to waking up in a quick fashion.

"I'm planning a little surprise for Yang, an… enjoyable evening, if you will."

"Are you talkin' about sex? 'Cus, I really don't wanna know the details… I, uh… Know MORE than I ever really needed to."

"No, it's not that, don't worry. I just want it to be a special night to show her how much I care… I just need you to distract her while I prepare. Not too long. Just for the afternoon, perhaps a little into the evening. I don't really need a lot of time, but she'll start to get suspicious if you just take her away for an hour or so in the evening. You need to have something for her to do, but not enough that she'll be tired, either. Is that… something you can do?"

"Blake, please." Weiss says with a scoff, rolling her eyes with the faunus' request. "We'll just say that Ruby has to go on her hunt the day after and she wanted to spend a little time with Yang before she heads to the transports. It's the perfect cover in two parts. One, it's completely plausible. Two, Yang would never turn down an opportunity to spend some time with her little sister."

"Yeah, but how're we gonna get her to go without you, Blake?" Ruby asks, tilting her head a bit. "She'll get suspicious, if you decide not to go."

Weiss taps a finger on her lips before turning to her wife. "How about you just take her, on your own, Ruby? Make it a 'just sisters' sort of meeting?"

"Aw, but what about you, Weiss?"

"I'll take the time to get a little work done. I still have a few people I need to contact for shipping and distributing dust, as well as a speech to prepare for."

"Oh, right…"

"Speech? What speech?" Blake asks, her ears perking slightly in interest.

"I'm holding a speech, in a couple weeks, at an event organized by the White Fang to promote faunus representation and equality in various categories. Jobs, media, etcetera… Rose Dust will be the primary forerunner and financer of the event, so I've been asked to say a few words."

"Yeah! And, Weiss is a super-good speech maker!"

"That's… That's great, Weiss!" Blake says, a large smile forming on her face. "It will mean so much to see such a high-profile person promoting our representation. It gives a lot of people hope, shows that there are people willing to stand up for them. But… aren't you worried about…?"

"In the words of our own Yang Xiao Long… 'Fuck 'em'. I will have no patience for bigots, nor for detractors. I am not going to sit back while this continues to happen, and I couldn't care less about what anyone has to say in opposition. If someone would be so stupid as to try to attack the event, it will be more than well-guarded. Ruby is going to be there, as well as Ren and Nora, to keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior."

"Well, Nora and Ren will certainly add an air of security to it. Though, I highly doubt that anyone will be more alert than Ruby, when it comes to your safety."

Ruby nods, her face taking a momentarily taking a serious expression (her silver eye gleaming fiercely) as she thinks of Weiss being in any sort of danger. "Yeah, I'm gonna be up on a high point an' looking down over the entire event." She says, squinting for a moment and holding her arms in the position Crescent Rose will be in. "Nobody's even gonna get close. The eye of Ruby Rose sees all on the battlefield…"

Blake looks at Weiss with a considering expression, then putting up a finger slowly. "Why don't I help out? I could help sweep the ground while Ruby stays up high. I can hear much better on than her, so I can point out any suspicious people I find right to her over a radio. This way, Ruby can have an extra pair of ears to help out."

"You could, I suppose." Weiss replies with a small nod. "I'll be sure to pay you for your-"

"Weiss, you're organizing an event to further rights for my people. Making sure you get through it safely is the least I could do, in return. Really. I'm doing this because I want to."

Weiss blinks a few times before letting a smile come to her face, giving a slow nod. "Very well. If you want to offer your services, I suppose I'll have no choice but to let you. I want to remain on my sister-in-law's good side, after all. But, it's in a few weeks, anyway, so I have plenty of time to prepare for every contingency. Anyway, how long do you need Ruby to keep Yang away for?" She says with a soft laugh.

"Just for the afternoon, as I said. I just need enough time to make her dinner and get myself ready is all."

Ruby nods, her smile returning as the conversation goes to more pleasant areas. "Yeah, okay! Maybe we'll go hit some stores or something. I DO have to pick up some rounds from the weapon store, and some sweets for Weiss. Maybe we can go get an ice cream cone, too…"

"Just don't get her too full."

"No problem! I won't run her too ragged, either. Gotta make sure she's got enough energy for… whatever you plan on doing." The redhead says, casting a teasingly suspicious glance to Blake as she speaks.

"So, I can't do something nice for my girlfriend and not have her sister think it's dubious?"

"No, I just know how you guys are. A lil' too intimately."

"I know that, unfortunately."

"My poor eye."

"It wasn't that bad."

"It WAS that bad."

"Can we get off this topic, please?"

"Yeah, you're right. I gotta be able to sleep, tonight. Umm… So, you want me to come over a little before twelve? Will that do ya fine?" Ruby says, the mirth in her eye making Blake smile and flick her ears a bit. It's good to see that Ruby's sense of humor hasn't dissipated over the years.

"That should be perfect. Thank you, Ruby… This will mean a lot to her."

* * *

"So, where's your hunt going to be?" Yang asks, taking a small lick of the ice cream cone in her hand as she strolls down the sidewalk. "Anythin' major?"

"Not really. Just some beowolves that have been getting too close to a village for comfort. I can do that in my sleep. Complete cakewalk."

"Sooo… Why'd ya wanna get together with me, again?"

"What, I need a reason to wanna hang out with the best big sister in the world? We haven't had any 'sister' time, y'know? We've both been real busy. I just wanted to use some of the time I had before the trip to do stuff." Ruby says, smiling at the blonde with a bright smile. "Besides, what better way to spend an afternoon than to accompany your lil' sis while she gets sniper ammunition and cupcakes?"

"I could think of several better ways." Yang teases back, giving her sister a friendly punch to the shoulder. "Can you say 'boring'?"

"Hey, I got you ice cream! Show a little respect!" Ruby snaps back, returning the punch in earnest. "I even got you a cone to go with it, instead of puttin' it in a boring ol' bowl!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." The blonde laughs, then pointing to her sister's cone. "Um, Rubes? Your ice cream is dribbling onto your hand."

"Ah!"

The huntress quickly trying to halt the flow of melting ice cream by licking all around the sides with a messy slurping sound, causing Yang to raise an eyebrow slowly. "Say, Ruby… Do you take Weiss out to eat ice cream, ever?" She asks as her sister makes a complete mess with the melted cream.

"Umm, yeah, sometimes… She usually sits and watches me eat, for some reason."

"Yeah… No idea why she'd do that. Certainly wouldn't have anything to do with you licking and slurping around…"

Ruby blushes a bit and sticks her tongue out, then having to quickly put her mouth back on her ice cream to keep it from dribbling onto her hand. "O-Oh, shut up. Like you don't watch Blake eat her ice cream and waggle your eyebrows at her the entire time. I've gone to Shoppes with you an' her, before. I KNOW what you two are like."

"Suppose there's no hidin' that from you… Anyway, how's everything goin' with you? And, Weiss?"

After slurping up a decent amount of melty ice cream, Ruby holds up a finger. "Pretty good, I guess. Weiss is still pretty busy with Rose Dust. People call her business number, like, ALL the time. For setting up meetings, for getting her opinions on things, for organizing all sorts of stupid things… Sheesh, it's like they can't do anything on their own. Weiss is like their mother or something. She's doing good work, though, and making huge strides… So, I guess that the annoying people and frustration."

"How're things on the faunus front? Those one you were tellin' me about a while back?"

"I still hear a few things, but… Those kinds of things have kinda quieted down. I haven't heard rumblings of faunus superiority. I mean, human arrogance is still disgustingly present. So that isn't cool either. Hopefully things will start to cool down as more people realize how stupid it is to act like that."

"We can only hope, I guess. Good to see that Weiss' company is goin' all gung-ho for equality… That what she's doin' now? Company stuff?"

"Yeah, she's getting in contact with associates for product meetings, events, and other things. Apparently, they're looking into a new defensive technology or something. She said she'd start showing me some prototypes, when they start to make them. She knows how I like lookin' at tech and stuff!"

"Best wife ever, eh?"

"Oh, yeah. THE best wife ever. TOTALLY the best wife ever!" Ruby says happily, glancing over at the weapon store as they come up to it. "Ah, here we are! Come on! This is just the first shop of the ones we have to go to, today! Omigosh, they have a buy-one, get-one sale on weapon lubricant! Eeee, yes! I've SO been looking for a deal on this stuff! C'mon, Yang!"

Yang watches as her giddy sister shoots into the store, following her along slowly as she laughs softly in amusement. "Wait up, Rubes! I ain't that fast, remember?"

* * *

"Jeez, what a day…" Yang murmurs to herself as she walks up the small path to her house, having been to all manner of shops with her excitable sister. It was getting dark and she was actually pretty hungry, since that ice cream cone was about the only thing that she had eaten all afternoon. Needless to say, she was one starving pregnant lady.

"Wonder if Blake got some take-out or somethin'… Heh, actually, she probably made tuna sandwiches, now that I think of it. Silly kitty."

She was honestly looking forward to spending the evening with Blake. After running around with her sister the whole afternoon, she had really started to miss her girlfriend. Even if it was a few hours, Blake had this way of calming her down that she really didn't quite have with anyone else. Don't get her wrong, she loved her sister to pieces, but she was having a little trouble keeping up with her. It had gotten her blood pumping quicker than she'd liked. Not to mention her ankles were starting to get JUST enough of a nagging ache that she felt like she needed just a moment to sit down.

Maybe she could get a massage or two from those completely wonderful hands… Especially in her lower back. She could already feel her girlfriend's hands kneading just in the right spot…

"Whoo, yeah…" She coos as she opens the door, waddling inside and looking around. "Babe? I'm home! Man, you shoulda seen Ruby at the weapon store. There was a sale on pretty much everything and she was goin' absolutely crazy! Never seen someone get so excited about lube before, y'know, 'cept for yo-"

She halts her words when a delicious and familiar smell reaches her nose, making her mouth water and her stomach growl hungrily. "Oh, god… Please tell me what I think I'm smelling is actually what I'm smelling…" She says as she moves toward the kitchen, a small blush creeping across her cheeks when she hears Blake's voice drift out in a very alluring tone.

"Why don't you come in and find out?"

That certainly makes her move a little more quickly on her path, drawn by both the smell and the voice. She can vaguely see that the hallway is mostly dark, the only light being the vaguely warm, flickering one coming from the kitchen. She finds herself beginning to smile widely as she reaches the room, casting a glance inside and blushing even more. "B-Blake? Wow…"

At the table that they usually ate at, there was a rather fancy tablecloth with two large plates of Yang's favorite dinner ever. Yeah… She had been craving some spaghetti like it was no one's business and she was already VERY hungry, so it took all her power to investigate further and NOT leap onto the plate like a rabid animal. If that wasn't enough to be amazing, Blake had appeared to have dolled up the room with lilac flowers and a singular, tall candle in the center of the table. It casts an orange light over only the parts of the room that mattered. That being the dinner and the flowers, though her eyebrow arches in confusion when she doesn't immediately see her girlfriend.

Her question is answered a mere moment later.

"What do you think?" comes a velvety voice from the darkness of the room, glowing amber eyes opening to look at Yang. It stops the blonde in her tracks, causing a soft chuckle to escape her.

"Well, it's pretty damn perfect… It's missing somethin' important, though."

"Oh? And, what would that be?"

"I think we both know what I want to see, Blake…"

"Very well…" Blake murmurs, stepping slowly into view and showing off exactly what she's wearing for the occasion (and, making Yang's mouth water for a completely different reason). She's wearing a very simple black dress, not one that would be considered overly alluring to someone else. It had no low neckline, no short cut for the end, no overly fancy lace or other bits and bobs…

But, to Yang, it was the most gorgeous thing ever.

It hugged Blake amazingly, but modestly, and was more than fitting for the kind of woman Blake was. She didn't show off her completely obvious beauty, but still managed to do it so well. Not to mention, the blonde could spy that the faunus' tail was wrapped coyly around her leg. That always helped to get Yang's cheeks blushing, since Blake's tail was absolutely gorgeous to her. Blake knew this perfectly well, considering how her tail was currently moving along her own leg.

"Mm… Romantic environment, delicious dinner, AND a pretty lady? What's the occasion, might I ask?" Yang asks with a small laugh, slowly walking up to the table as Blake moves around to pull her seat out.

"For just being you." The faunus replies, stealing a quick kiss from her girlfriend's lips. "Plus, I figured you'd be hungry after all that running around, today…"

"You totally sent me away so you could get ready, didn't you? And, Ruby was totally in cahoots?"

"Totally."

"Should I be concerned that you can coerce my sister into leading me off track?"

"It was hardly coercion. She was all too glad to give me a hand. She really did want to spend some time with you, you know. I just told her to keep you busy for a little bit. Besides, weren't you just saying that she enjoyed her time, there?"

"She did."

"Well, then a good time was had by all..."

Yang can't help the smile that comes to her face in response, leaning and pulling Blake closer for a longer kiss. That short one wasn't even close to enough, for her. "You went through all that trouble just to set up an amazing dinner for me? Blake, you-"

"You think the dinner is all I have planned, Yang?"

"Huh? What else do you…?"

"You'll have to wait and see, won't you?" Blake murmurs with a small purr, giving another few kisses before moving slowly off and sitting down across from Yang. "For now, go ahead and eat. I can see your mouth watering."

"Well, it's not only for the spaghetti…"

Yang only receives a coy fluttering of eyelashes in response, Blake's voice coming out smoothly. "I have no idea what you're talking out. Now, eat."

"Ya don't need to tell ME twice…" The blonde says with a smile, swiping the fork next to her plate into her hand and digging it into the plate of spaghetti. "Aww, ya even put lil', tiny meatballs in the sauce~"

She twirls a large bundle of spaghetti around her fork, licking her lips before popping the piping hot food in her mouth. Blake laughs as Yang lets a very happy 'mmm' sound, her eyes closing as she blissfully chews the delicious pasta. Blake has to wait a little before taking a bite of her own dinner. It was still hot and, unlike Yang, she couldn't put hot food in her mouth without burning it. While she waits, she settles for watching her girlfriend gobble up her dinner hungrily. She must have been VERY hungry.

Yang, noticing that Blake was watching her eat, stops and slurps up that pasta currently hanging from her lips. "Am I that amusing, Blake? That spaghetti slurpin' getting your motor running?" She says with a small laugh, tilting her head just slightly.

"You sure are…" She murmurs in response, reaching her hand across the table to take Yang's hand in her own. The fiery light from the candle dances across her face, casting shadows and flickering light across her skin. Her shining eyes meet lilac, looking deeply inside and bringing a burning blush to Yang's cheeks. "I was just looking at the beautiful woman across from me and wondering how I ever got to be so lucky in life…"

"You're not the only one who got lucky…"

"Well, of course you did. Anyone would be lucky to land a catch like me." Yang jokes, taking another big bite of her spaghetti. "Y'know, this would be the most perfect time to do that spaghetti scene from Lady and The Tramp. All we need is those two dudes with the accordions, and we'd be set."

"I think they would ruin the mood a bit, don't you?" Blake says back in amusement, her tail swaying behind her as she begins taking bites of her own dinner.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Plus, they'd sing, too. That'd be real awkward…"

For a moment, Yang quietly eats her spaghetti. But, that particular moment doesn't last very long, as she finds her eyes slowly drifting back to Blake. When she does, she finds that Blake's are already there. "We gonna keep meeting like this?"

"I should hope so…"

"Well, I'm almost done devouring my dinner, sooo… Maybe I can see what else you apparently have planned on this fine evening? I'm curious, now that you've mentioned it."

"Always the curious one, aren't we? Well, if you're sure you've eaten enough… Hm, actually, you're almost done…"

"Well, you try runnin' around with a whirlwind sister for an afternoon, on top a' being pregnant. You'll have worked up an appetite, too, I'll betcha." Yang replies, finishing up the little bit of food still on her plate with a happy sound. "This was really nice, by the way… How'd ya know I was havin' a craving for spaghetti, anyway?"

"Besides the fact that it's your favorite dinner and I knew you'd be hungry, after running around with your sister? I saw you licking your lips every time a plate of spaghetti came onto the television. Even animated spaghetti. From Lady and The Tramp, Yang."

"Hey, what can I say? They drew it deliciously. I can't help it."

"If you say so…" Blake murmurs, slowly standing up from her seat and leaning down to blow out the candle. Before Yang can even think of getting out of her seat, Blake is already by her side and offering her hand out for the blonde to grab. Yang grins and shifts her weight a little before using Blake's offered hand to pull herself to her feet. "Now, let's see what else I have planned, since you're so curious…"

"Lookin' forward to it." Yang purrs, being slowly led out to the living room. Her eyes trail down her girlfriend's lithe body, particularly lingering on the gently swaying tail at the very end of her spine.

When Blake gets to the center of the room, she gently releases Yang's hand and strolls over to a small bookshelf that stands against the wall. Her scroll rests against a few books, giving a small beep as she taps the screen with her finger. Raising an eyebrow, she looks back at Yang with a grin. Yang blinks a few times before grinning in realization, a chuckle bubbling from her throat. "Oh, no… You're not thinkin'…"

The faunus taps her scroll once more before moving back to the center of the room, extending a hand to Yang as her ears flick. After only a moment, soft, slow music begins to gently flow through the room, making the blonde's grin grow even wider.

"Fancy some living room dancing?" Blake asks, drawing a happy squeal from her girlfriend as she takes her hand quickly into her own.

"Baby, you know it~" Yang replies, pulling Blake snug to her body. The faunus' other hand gently strokes along the woman's belly before resting on her waist, her tail flicking happily as she sees how happy Yang looks. "Hope ya don't mind takin' breaks, though… My breath is easy enough to take away with too much activity, but seein' you in that dress might just take it ALL away~"

"My breath was taken away the moment I heard you walk through the door…" Blake purrs, beginning a slow, gentle swaying motion. She certainly didn't want to exhaust Yang. This was meant to be relaxing, after all. "Just like it always is…"

"You tryin' to get me all hot an' bothered?" Yang laughs, leaning in to kiss Blake's lips. "I know I already asked, but… What brought this all on? Not that I'm complaining. I love living room dancing, as you know."

"Of course I know… How many mornings have I been awoken to you dancing in the living room? Though, your music was less… romantic."

"Heavy metal is totally romantic, babe. It appears that, after all these years, ya STILL haven't learned that~ And, ya still didn't answer my question, missy." Yang murmurs, laughing softly when Blake's ears perk up.

"I just wanted to do something to remind you how much I care…" Blake explains, her tail curling around the taller woman's hip. "Plus, I like seeing you up this close… BEING up this close…"

The faunus leans forward to peck a few kisses along her lover's face, drawing small laughs and giggles from both of them. "It lets me see every lovable bit of your face, feel every bit of your body… It gets me closer to you, lets us both relax… You know we won't have many instances of that, right?"

"Heh, yeah… Baby comin'… Month or two, y'know. It'll be any time between the next month an' this one, if she's right about it all-" Yang starts, suddenly letting out a little squeak. Blake grins, having felt the small jolt from Yang's belly, causing a laugh to come both of them. "Haha, feels like she wants to join in the dance, too, eh? Calm down, there, kiddo."

Blake rests her hand slowly on the large bump, feeling another jolt of their child kicking. "Who said she can't join the dance?" She chuckles, keeping her hand on Yang's belly as they continue to sway to the gentle music.

Another quiet, blissful evening for the couple...

* * *

Trudging through the snowy forest in a slow manner, the form of a red cloak whips through the howling wind. Ice crystals are forming on the fabric, drawing a small shiver from the woman who wears it. She had just been dropped off by the transport merely three hours ago, not set to return to the landing strip for another four hours.

"I just love storms…" Ruby mutters, tugging her cloak closer to her and giving a final shiver. After which, she refuses to give any more. She needed to focus on the job at hand. There were beowolves that needed exterminating around here, and she had finally found the trail. "Alright, there are the tracks… Got ya, now, you little jerks."

She speeds along the path that the paw prints have set, her silver eye keeping focused despite her high rate of speed. However, she's stopped dead in her tracks when she begins to see red in the snow. "What the hell? Must have started fightin' each other or somethi-"

She's even further stopped as she looks ahead, finding that the corpse of a beowolf lying at a distance from her. Looking around, she sees that the grounds are covered in the corpses of the dead Grimm. That certainly wasn't normal. Beowolves were certainly territorial, but they would usually just display their dominance in a fight and keep their pack alive. Had another huntsman or huntress gotten to these beowolves before she had?

"Shouldn't be… I was assigned to this mission, not anyone else…" She murmurs as she walks slowly up to the dead Beowolf and kneels down to turn it over, eyes suddenly widening when something is made quickly apparent…

Its bony mask was viciously carved from its face, leaving the meat and blood to fester in the air.

"Okay… That's not good… Who… did this?"

A low howl permeates the crisp air, causing Ruby's eyes to widen. Being a huntress, she had become accustomed to the many howls and calls of the Grimm. This was familiar, but not at all a Grimm. She slowly stands to her feet, looking all around as the howl slowly fades out.

"A... faunus?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Holy DAMN was this tricky to write. Now, to be warned, there's a lot of information in this chapter! I hope it's not too much of an overload for all you lovely people reading this! Sorry that it takes so long with these AFBIS chapters, but I put so much thought into how long they have to be and what exactly I want to do that it takes me so much longer when I decide to write these. x) This universe is pretty much my baby.**

**Okay, so that was weird. Anyway! Without further ado, here is the next (very long) chapter of AFBIS! The moment you've been waiting for!**

* * *

The crunching in the snow picks up in frequency, the fullness of her cloak billowing behind Ruby as her eye scans the forest. She heard that howl only a few minutes ago, but is now completely focused on finding out exactly where it had come from. If it was connected to those, frankly disturbing, kills on the beowolves, she needed to confront them. There was a way to kill the Grimm. An organized way. Grimm bodies were not generally carved into in such a brutal fashion, especially not by huntsman or huntresses. There was no need to do that. You killed them and that was it. Whoever had done this… was a person that Ruby didn't want to see wandering around.

And, to be honest, that howl had sent chills down her spine.

Something had made her need to find the source of the sound, despite how vain her search was seeming. She hadn't heard the sound since it had rung out. She has to wonder if the faunus had moved off somewhere, or if she had heard the sound right at all. No, she was SURE. It had to have been a faunus. No Grimm made a sound like that.

"Where did you go?" She murmurs to herself, puffs of mist moving from her lips as she looks quickly around. It was beginning to get dark and her window of opportunity was fading quickly. "People don't just disappear… Heh, well… Unless you're Nora trying to avoid vacuuming the floor, according to Ren."

Man, she wishes Weiss were here. She would have laughed at that. You always think of the funniest things when no one is around to share the laugh.

As she moves through the snow, she starts to breathe a little heavier and slows to a jog before needing to stop and lean on a nearby tree. She gives a few pants of breath, cold air swooping in and making her wheeze a tiny bit. "Whoo… Need to remember to calm down in the snowy areas… Must be colder than usual, here. Sheesh, you'd think I'd be used to this, by now."

"One would think." A low, raspy voice states from high in the tree she had been leaning on, causing her to quickly look upward at the sound. Though, in the darkening woods, all she can see is the Grimm's boney mask and a pair of shining green eyes looking at her from the eye sockets. "A huntress is supposed to be accustomed to the elements, right? How many times have there been images of huntress' walking in the snow, on their way to send some Grimm to oblivion? "

"You… You're the one who carved up those beowolves!"

"Good observation. It would have taken me a few tries to get to that point. You really are a smart one, aren't you?" The voice says, slowly looking Ruby up and down in almost a… studying light. Whatever light it was, it made the huntress uncomfortable. Ruby's eyes narrow at the figure, trying to will herself to see what was there or who it could possibly be.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Why did you carve up those beowolves like that? Why… Why are you wearing it's mask?" Ruby demands quickly, eyes narrowing further. She doesn't know who this person thinks they are, but she can guarantee they don't want to play games with her when she was serious. She may be a goofy, childish woman in her home life, but she is all business the moment she steps off the transport.

"I'm afraid the answers you seek are just out of your grasp, little rose. Nobody knows all the answers… Not me, not you, certainly not anyone else… We all just make due with the little amount of information we have, playing the hand we're dealt in the end and feeding ourselves lies to make us feel better about it all… Like the one you're telling yourself."

"Which would be..."

"We're making change."

Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose with immense speed, growling as she swings it to connect with the tree the figure is standing on. But, before it does, her eye casts a look upward to find that the figure is… gone? She stops her attempted massacre of the tree and narrows her eye further. How did that happen? She was just there. People DON'T just vanish. There is always a reason behind any one occurrence, as Weiss would say. Nothing happens for no reason. And, as petals spill into the wind and whip around like beacons of red… she can't help but wonder...

"What was the goal, here?"

* * *

"I'm tellin' you, Weiss, something's wrong about this. I can feel it!"

Weiss looks at her wife's face projected in holographic form from her desk at Rose Dust Headquarters, tapping her fingers slowly on the polished wood. The large, static image of Ruby's face has slight creases of worry in it, though her words are slightly crackly from her position. She was working on a way to make these holographic generators be able to pick up a better signal, but the prototypes hadn't gained any ground quite yet..

"So you saw a maniac cutting up beowolves. That doesn't mean there has to be an insidious plot attached to it, Ruby. How do you know this wasn't your every day, run-of-the-mill psychopath?" Weiss replies, slowly taking her reading glasses of the bridge of her nose. "As far as we know, it was just this person's twisted hobby."

"Okay, well, the person was WEARING the mask, so… Yeah… Weiss, you know what I'm going to say. We've been talking about it for a while, now. Whispers of faunus superiority and, now, this? It has to be..."

"Ruby, the White Fang had nothing to do with this. They're a pacifist organization, only striving for the rights and equality of faunus. Besides, I already checked. I did a full background sweep on every member that is currently a part of the organization… We met the president and he assured us that he was trying to wipe the White Fang clean of it's more violent past. If anything, he was more than willing to search through every record right with us. We couldn't find anything there. No leads in the slightest."

"Then, why the masks? That was the White Fang's calling card, wasn't it? Well, that and that freaky-ass symbol the put on their stuff… What's the goal, here? Frame the White Fang? Even if it has nothing to do with the White Fang, this is creepy stuff."

"I don't know, Ruby." Weiss says with a sigh, tapping her fingers at the desk once more. "If you're really so worried about it, we can request an investigation into the area. I'm sure that many would be willing to comb the area, if your worries are well-founded. If it was true that this person is just a psychopath, then, we'll just have one less crazy person running around."

"It was just… I wouldn't be as freaked out, if that person hadn't… said the stuff they said. The person said that we were lying to ourselves, in making change… That answers we wanted were out of our reach. Not only that, but their eyes were just… studying me… Looking me up and down..."

"Well, they should be afraid. That's my job, and there are never going to be openings to fill that position. Mrs. Rose might have to kick someone's behind, if they keep looking at her wife..." Weiss says, managing to get Ruby to snicker a bit.

"Sheesh, still can't say 'ass', Weiss? You can't miss me that much, already, can you? I've only been gone, like, a day."

"I always miss you, Ruby. Even a day away feels like too long." Weiss says slowly, slipping her glasses back onto her nose to continue glancing at the papers that are stacked in neat piles on her desk. "I'll make the request to scan the forest, as well as make your concerns known. If that person is still occupying the forest, we'll find them."

"Thanks, Weiss. Maybe it IS just some creep rambling about gibberish, but I'd feel LOADS better knowing that was all there was to the encounter." Ruby replies cheerfully, nodding a bit at her wife as the holographic representation of her head crackles once more. "I should be heading for the transport in a few hours, but I'm gonna go check on the villagers to make sure everything's all good. I'll be home in time for dinner, hopefully!"

"Mm. Good. So..."

"Hm?"

"What are you wearing?" Weiss asks without looking up, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She can hear her wife laughing on the other side of the world, making this day just that little bit better.

* * *

"Okay, I'm totally wearing the jacket, I think."

"You can wear whatever you want, Yang. We're just going for a walk. That's all."

"Well, it's a kinda cool spring, recently, don't ya think? I don't wanna get cold."

"Yang, you body is the hottest thing in the world. I doubt that you're going to be too cold, from a light breeze."

"Well, keep talkin' like THAT, and ya might just flatter me, Blakey-kins~"

Blake glances back at her girlfriend, who is currently tugging a jacket over her body, and smiles a little. It's amazing to think that nearly a month and a half separate the couple from their child being born, a day that they both eagerly look forward to. Yang had pretty much insisted that the girl was going to have beautiful amber eyes, 'like her mama'. She had made a few passing observations about their child's appearance like that, one's that Blake wondered if were going to be proven to be true. The confidence in Yang's voice when she made guesses certainly seemed to suggest she knew exactly what was going to happen.

Blake honestly hoped that their daughter's eyes were like Yang's, that calming lilac being such a beautiful color to become lost in.

"Have you thought anymore about a name? We're getting down to the wire, with that." The faunus says as she begins to button up her blouse, causing Yang to smile a little and lower her voice to a teasing tone.

"Well, I'm assuming that naming her 'Blake Jr' would be off the table?"

"It would."

"Heh, just had to ask~ Hm… Well… I've been thinking of a few I liked, recently, I guess, but I haven't really thought of anything really definitive. What about you, Blake? Thought of anything you'd like?"

"Anna."

"Hm?"

"Th-That's the name I've been thinking about… It's pretty and I liked the way it sounded with your name... I don't know, it just came to me one night while I was-"

"Lying in bed, reading a book?"

"What? How… How did you…?"

"Babe, believe it or not, I HAVE picked up on things over the years… I even watch you read, sometimes, y'know. You make all these cute noises, so I can pretty much guess how a story is going by the look on your face. Hehehe~, you scrunch your nose up and get this adorable pout on your face. Coulda sworn I heard you mutterin' something like 'why, that dirty…', while you were readin' a particularly bad plot twist."

Blake can't help the flush that comes to her cheeks in realization that Yang was watching her as she read each night. She probably should have seen this coming, to be honest. Yang was unbelievably observant, when it came to Blake and things Blake-related. It still made it a little embarrassing for her to know that Yang had been watching her, when Blake had thought she had gone to sleep.

"Says the woman who watches herself flex in the mirror."

"Guilty as charged. But, the only thing is… I purposely did that, when I knew you were watching."

"Don't you mean, still do? I saw you do it, just yesterday."

Yang's own cheeks take a small flush and she averts her eyes, letting out an awkward cough. "Heh, um… Pssh, yeah… Totally knew you were there. That's why I did it."

"Really? Or does Yang Xiao Long just like to show off to everyone, including herself? Perhaps, admiring the body of the goddess that IS Yang Xiao Long?"

"Man, you've gotten real good at flattery, haven't ya, kitty?" Yang says with a chuckle, deciding to leave her jacket unbuttoned a little as she moves toward the faunus. "You keep sayin' all these things about ME, when you should be sayin' how beautiful and gorgeous YOU are… I could probably just stare at ya forever… Heh… Aw, man. We're SO gonna be THOSE parents, aren't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know… THOSE parents. The ones who embarrass their kids by being super mushy-gushy all the time… 'Omigod, stop doing the kissy thing!' Y'know? She'll cover her eyes and be all grossed out and stuff, haha~"

"I don't doubt it. Well, I'll be happy to be THAT kind of parent with you, then. I know that kissing you isn't something that I'm ready to ever give up. Or, will. I don't care if she's a teenager and it's in front of her friends." Blake replies, drawing a laugh from the blonde.

"Big, smoochy, wet ones, too!" Yang adds, giving a small pat to her belly. "Hear that, girl? You're not even out, yet, an' we're already thinkin' of ways to embarrass ya. Hm. I mean… Hear that… Anna?"

A slow red comes to Blake's cheeks, her faunus ears perking up slightly. She wasn't quite sure if she heard that quite right. Had Yang just said…? "I-I… What? You… You really don't have to use that, if you… It was just a suggestion..."

"Well, my dear Blake-y, I happen to like the name 'Anna'. Anna Xiao Long… Yeah, that sounds good to me. I'm not doin' it 'cus you suggested it, Blake. I really think that's a good name for her. What do ya think, kiddo?" The blonde asks, tilting her head and humming when she feels a light kicking at her rounded belly. "Guess it's settled, then. Lil' Anna agrees~"

Blake is now smiling, shaking her head in amusement. "In the words of your short, temperamental, billionaire sister-in-law… 'You're such a dolt'."

"That's me! Now, how 'bout that walk? I've only got limited fuel in the tank before I start getting all pant-y and sweaty."

"That's a bad thing? Usually having you pant and sweat is quite a good thing..."

"Oh, you're just SO clever, Blake. C'mon, let's just get to walkin'! I'm ready for some fresh air! Feel that cool breeze on my hair, hold your hand… Hm. Wanna go for ice cream, too? I could really use some, actually. Vanilla would be nice… Oh, or maybe some lemon sherbet! Hell, yeah. That sounds like a nice time, doesn't it?" The blonde asks, gently throwing her arms around Blake's neck and giving her a quick smooch. "We can get some chocolate, too, if ya want. I know you like that chocolate stuff… Ohhh, we could probably put chocolate syrup on it, too… Wait, do they sell peppers at the ice cream shop, downtown?"

"I… doubt they sell peppers at an ice cream shop, Yang. Anna, kindly talk your mother out of ruining her appetite."

Yang laughs as she pulls back a little, slipping one hand out from around Blake's neck to hold the faunus' hand. "Oh, so, now you're tryin' to turn her against me, huh? Naughty."

"I try. Now… Let's go before it starts to get dark."

* * *

It was a very peaceful walk down to the newly opened ice cream stand near the park, a gentle breeze drifting through the air and brushing through Yang's long hair. She sighs in contentment, one hand resting on the bump of her belly and the other clasping Blake's tightly. "Ahh… Feel that breeze, babe..."

Blake's ears flick a few times as the wind blows through them, a smile coming to her face as she leans her body slightly into her lover. Her tail even curls slightly around Yang's leg to draw a pleased sound from the blonde. "It's a nice day, I'll admit. I'm just glad that it's going to stay that way. There's no rain in the forecast… It may be a little on the cool side, but there is going to be plenty of sun coming a little later. We could probably even go to the beach, sometime."

"Yeah, I DO need to work on my tan, don't I?"

"You could. It would certainly make you all the tastier to eat."

"Me-_yow_~ Flirts comin' in from left and right..."

"I can't help it, when you're so beautiful."

A little jolt to her belly makes Yang laugh, slipping out heartily with a tilt of her head. "Haha! She's tellin' us to 'cool it with the flirting', mama! That's gross!"

Blake lets a soft laugh of her own slip out of her mouth, shaking her head a bit before leaning up to peck at Yang's smiling lips. "You're too much, sometimes..."

"The best kind of 'too much', hopefully..."

"The very best."

They finally come up to the ice cream stand after a few minutes of walking and kissing, Yang leaning over onto the counter and smiling at the young, brunette woman behind it. They were lucky that no one else appeared to be around, at this time, so there was no need to wait in the line. Though, Blake had to guess that the blonde would likely push her way through a line, with how much she had previously been talking about ice cream as they were walking. And, she really wanted peppers on it, for some reason. Maybe they would have to stop at the store to satiate Yang's desire for spicy things in cream.

"Hey, there!" Yang says cheerfully, breaking Blake out of peppery thoughts as she speaks to the girl behind the counter.

The woman regards Yang for a few moments, as if trying to figure out where she'd seen her from. It takes her only a moment, her recognition seeming to speed up as she glances over to Blake. "Oh… Oh my god! You're Yang Xiao Long!" The girl gasps loudly, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.

Yang quickly shushes the girl, leaning in close and looking from side to side in a playful manner. Though, the girl seems completely convinced by the gesture. "Shush-shush… I am… But, ya can't let anyone know, see? Got important work to do…"

"Wow… R-Really? Like what?"

"Namely, gettin' some ice cream."

The brunette laughs a little as Yang laughs, then smiling at her widely. "I'm sorry. I-I just got really excited. My name's Amy! I… I'm a really big fan of yours! You're my favorite huntress, like, completely! I always thought you were so badass, just punching everything in sight and shooting blasts out of your gauntlets like- bam, bang!" She throws a few shadow boxing punches to illustrate her point.

"Well, AM pretty badass, I have to say..."

"Oh, now you've done it." Blake says in amusement, glancing at Amy with a raised eyebrow. "The head swelling that you've started is going to take hours to go down.

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize. She's cute, when she thinks she's all that."

"Oh, hush, you." Yang replies, leaning over to give Blake a small punch to the shoulder. Blake chuckles and whips her tail against the blonde's backside, making her squeak. "Gaa! Blake! Why, you…"

"Careful, your adoring fan is standing right here."

Yang turns her head back around to see Amy smiling at them both, looking between the two women (who are probably behaving inappropriately for being in a public space like this). Yang gives a sheepish 'sorry' to the girl, who shakes her head. "No, that's… it's really nice to see you guys together. You guys are actually really inspiring to a lot of people."

Blake blinks a few times, then inquiring with a soft 'what do you mean?'.

"Well, me and my boyfriend, for instance… He's a puma faunus. We'd liked each other for a long time, but were kinda scared of what would be said to us if we got together. You know, since people either don't like faunus or don't like humans, these days… We just kind of… avoided how we felt. But, then we heard the news that you guys were having a kid… and not caring at all what people said? It was such a relief to see that we weren't the only ones who felt like that, you know? That was the kick we needed to tell each other how we felt. There are some friends of mine who have had similar revelations, too!"

Blake's eyes certainly widen at that. While Yang had certainly voiced her hopes that more people would see them and be more confident in themselves and in their relationships, Blake had to admit she didn't expect it to happen on a very high level. To actually meet someone who was affected by her relationship with Yang was more than a little surprising for her. Yang, however, looks very happy (maybe even about to cry), nodding her head quickly.

"Wow, that's awesome! Totally cool!" The blonde says enthusiastically, nodding her head quickly. "Yeah, don't ever let somebody tell you not to be with someone you love just because of race or any a' that bullshit. 'Cus, that's just what it is. Bullshit. How is your relationship, if I can ask?"

"Oh, no problem! He's totally dreamy and cuuute~ He's super tall and he's got these glasses that he always lowers when he's feeling… *ahem * Oh, and, his tail always sways when he's happy and it's the most attractive thing ever!"

"Oh, I know, tails are the best! The way they wrap around your leg while you're cuddling, too!"

"Oh, I KNOW!"

Blake sighs a little as a blush settles on her cheeks, leaning against the stand a little bit as her pregnant girlfriend goes into 'I'm going to talk to you about everything' mode with a fellow inter-species relationship human. Though, it's certainly nice to hear two people so firmly in love with faunus. When she was growing up, her kind were only treated with scorn or hatred. Those that did treat faunus kindly were either doing it for their own gain or (in rarer circumstances) saw them as some sort of fetish.

This was two women talking lovingly about their respective lovers, adding in that they just loved what made them who they were. It was impossible to not smile at that. She was happy that, despite the slight heating up of things between the two species, there were some who could find love in each other. She hopes there can be a time when everyone can get along. If not like this, then with tolerance toward the other species. Humans were still un-trusting of faunus, seeing them as beasts that deserved no more than being killed or left to the wilds. Either that, or they were still scared of faunus backlash, like the early years of violent terrorism by the White Fang. Faunus were still bitter about humans, wanting to be recognized as people and lashing out violently when they were turned down. That, and fear… Fear kept many faunus from being completely trusting of humans, as well. After all, there had been many a massacre of their species from humans. Neither side was right. Neither viewpoint was ever going to lead to anything good.

But, with the newly formed White Fang moving to pacifist goals, there had also been a popping up of pro-peace organizations. The H.F.R. (Humans for Faunus Rights) organization had been working hand in hand with the White Fang to bring peaceful representation of both species, showing that there could be no reason to fear the other.

"Oh! Is it okay if I get a quick picture with you two? We're both big fans of you guys. And, he's actually a really big fan of Blake! He liked your shadow clone ability! He's going to be trying out to become a huntsman, too..." Amy asks, snapping Blake out of her thoughts. "Heh, plus I totally want to show him how cool it is to work at an ice cream stand~ He always teases me about it."

"Oh, of course." Blake murmurs, Yang laughing when she sees that Blake had been shifted from what appeared to be deep thought. The two women lean on the counter as Amy puts her scroll out, snapping a picture of the three of them together before giggling happily.

"Thank you so much, he's going to love this!" Amy says, nodding a few times before her eyes widen again. "Oh my god, I totally forgot! What would you like?"

* * *

"I can't believe she actually got you peppers for your ice cream."

"All ya gotta do is know how to ask, Blake-y~ She was a nice girl, though, wasn't she?" Yang asks, stretching a little and getting ready for bed. Her maternity wear hugs her body comfortably, providing support to all the areas that had been feeling a little uncomfortable. "A lil' ditzy, but she was a cutey."

"Indeed. She looked quite happy with her life. I was… surprised that she was so inspired by our relationship."

"Well, we're people of a more famous type, right? We're havin' a faunus an' human baby and pretty vocal about how much we love each other, y'know? It inspires people not to be afraid of pursuin' relationships like ours. I'm glad to hear things like that. If I can have the love of my life next to me and manage to tell people that it's okay to feel this way, then I'll be happy. Let other people have the opportunity to be as happy as I am, right?"

Blake can't help but smile warmly at the complete selflessness that her girlfriend so often showed, laying back onto the bed after changing into her kimono. "Have I ever told you how amazing you are? If only more people had ideologies like you did… The world would be a better place."

"If everyone in the world was exactly like me, then you'd be in quite a bit of trouble, wouldn't you? How would ya choose between all the Yangs out there, if that happened?"

"Simple. I'd go after the most gorgeous and real one..."

"You seriously need to stop with the flirting. I might just swoon. And, knowin' how long it takes me to get up, you might not see me for a while."

"Well, why don't you come over and swoon on the bed? Maybe I don't _want_ you to get up for a while..."

"Oh, I'm totally-" Yang's eyes suddenly widen and she groans, putting a hand to her crotch. Yup. Totally getting wet, and not in the good way. "Well, shit, ya made me piss myself. Fuck. I'm sorry, babe… Completely ruined the-"

"It's fine, Yang. You didn't ruin anything." Blake says, giving a reassuring smile to the disappointed blonde. "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

"I think I can clean up piss on my own, just fine, thanks. Just need a new pair of undies an'… an' for cryin' out loud!" She grumbles as she waddles her way to the bathroom door and slips inside. Blake relaxes against the bed, closing her eyes as her sensitive ears listen out for any sign that her girlfriend might need her assistance. She's sure that Yang can handle herself fine, but still… Never can be too coddling, after all.

In the bathroom, Yang is grumbling even more to herself. "Stupid body, peein' and leakin' when I'm tryin' to get some. Ngh. Shit, are you serious? Still?"

The slow trickle of fluid is coming out, creating a constant wetness against her underwear. She mutters a few more times as she sits down on the toilet, a sigh escaping her as she waits… and, waits… and waits. After about five minutes, she looks down at her lower body to find that the fluid is still coming. Her eyebrow raises slightly, the gears in her mind starting to get the idea that this isn't just a little leakage…

Blake's ears flick slowly as she hears Yang become quiet, one eye slowly cracking open to glance at the bathroom. The blonde wasn't usually this quiet unless she was either being serious or up to something. And, she highly doubts that Yang would be up to anything in the bathroom. After all, Blake herself wasn't in there. The only time Yang was up to anything in the bathroom usually involved Blake in the shower and a not-so-surprising sneak attack. "Yang? Are you doing alright in there, babe?"

"Uhhh… Blake? I don't think this is-" Yang says, her voice coming out in a slightly nervous fashion. Blake is instantly to her feet, in the bathroom before Yang can even finish her sentence. Yang blinks a few times at the faunus' sudden arrival, as well as the serious look that comes to her girlfriend's face. Amber eyes meet lilac, a silent agreement coming to the both of them as the realization comes out in Yang's voice. "I-I… think my water just broke… We should probably..."

Blake was off almost immediately, helping Yang slowly to her feet (making sure she has something to cover Yang up, as the fluid was still not letting up, however slowly the trickle was) and going for her scroll as the blonde moves out to the living room. "I'm calling the hospital to be ready. With your water breaking… contractions won't be far behind."

"Blake, I wasn't supposed to… It's a month early..."

"I know. Let's… Let's just go down. The doctor will know."

The previously calm and laid-back tone of the night had just shifted, the future that they thought they were prepared for was here and had caught them by surprise. But… everything had gone smoothly, so far. '_It will still do so.' _Blake assures herself, focusing on getting Blake to the hospital as soon as possible, the one that Ruby and Weiss had insisted they go to.

This was going to be… trying, that's for sure.

* * *

"It's all right, Yang… Everything's going to be all right, okay? Just breathe like the doctor told you and you'll be fine…" Blake murmured gently, soft in comparison to her girlfriend's moans of pain. She couldn't hold her hand, as the blonde's was currently crumpling the metal siding to the hospital bed with how hard she was gripping it. So, she had to settle with running her fingers through the woman's sweaty locks of blonde. Her chest was heaving, struggling to keep her breaths even.

Though they had had a few hours before the contractions and labor truly started, it didn't seem to be enough time to prepare. Hell, they had all Yang's pregnancy to prepare for what was coming. But, all the careful planning and practice proved to be fruitless when it came down to it. Nothing really prepared you for the first time.

"Haa… Haa… Th-That's easy for you to SAYYY-Agh!" Yang hisses, her head arching back as tears came to her reddening eyes. This constant pain was kicking her semblance into overdrive, compensating by making her stronger to fight whatever was causing it.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any kind of enemy attacking her, this time. The pain was just part of the process, something she had to get through in order to bring their child's life into the world. Leave it to childbirth to bring the world's strongest huntress to her knees.

They were currently in a Rose Dust financed hospital, under the watchful eye of one Weiss Rose (who had arrived with her wife soon after the news was given). She had been as jittery as Blake, despite not being the mate of the woman giving birth. She had made arrangements to make sure Yang was as comfortable as could be as she delivered, ensuring both Blake AND Ruby that she would be getting the finest care under the best doctors she could get. All in a completely faunus-friendly zone (upon Ruby's insistence).

Now, here they were. Yang was in labor and the mixed nature of faunus and human was becoming quite the issue with the blonde. They were warned by the doctor that the birth might be a bit strenuous on Yang's body. As, though faunus were similar enough to humans in physiology, they had slight differences to complicate things. Tails, for one, could be an obstruction to the birth canal if they happened to untangle and become rigid. Claws were also a worry, as many cat faunus were born with longer nails. Faunus women's physiology, especially cat women and other faunus with claws, were built to compensate for this fact with a protective lining that would be able to handle such matters as a claw moving out. Humans, obviously, did not. A human woman would have serious trouble if even one became un-sheathed, as it could slice the delicate tissue as the baby was pushed out.

This had been what Blake feared, when Yang suggested the idea of carrying their child.

Add the fact that their baby was being born a month earlier than she should be, and you have a barely held together Blake who isn't NEARLY as calm inside as she looks outside.

But, there was a careful monitoring of the woman to make sure everything was going alright. Yes, it WAS a bit early, but... So far, everything seemed to be progressing pretty normally despite the slightly more strenuous birthing process. She just hoped it stayed that way.

* * *

"How is she doing? Is she doing okay? Oh, isn't it too early? The baby wasn't supposed to come for another month or so, Weiss! The doctor said-"

"I know what she said, but these things happen, sometimes. She's not… THAT early. And, to be honest... There's nothing we can do about that, now, if it is. The best thing we can do, now, is to support her. We have the best doctor treating her that money can buy and bright nurses on hand to assist. We just have to have faith that everything will turn out alright. If you really want to help out, try to stay calm. Like, Blake. She's the PARENT, for heaven's sake, and she's being calmer!" Weiss says to her wife quickly, though her nervous tics are all on display for Ruby to see.

The tapping of her fingers on nearly every surface that her hand rests on, the biting of her lip, the brushing back of insignificantly hanging strands of hair, the pacing… You get the idea. Needless to say, no matter how calm her wife's voice sounded, she said everything Ruby needed to know with just her body language. Weiss was nervous for Yang, nervous for what may potentially happen to her or the baby. Both are standing in the waiting room with slightly indecent clothing, having been getting around for bed when the news of Yang's water breaking had reached them from Blake. They had rushed out the door, taking only enough time to get sweatpants or jackets on. So, yeah… It was pretty awkward for Ruby to be in nothing but her jam-jams and her cloak. Weiss had it worse. Her nightgown was hanging over a pair of hastily thrown on sweatpants, her white jacket loose on her body. She didn't look like the CEO of ANY company, much less Rose Dust.

But, neither were overly concerned about what they looked like.

Contractions had begun a few hours later, the resounding reaction by Yang ensuring that Ruby couldn't be in the room. The redhead had grown completely stiff upon hearing it and stared with wide eyes until Weiss had forcefully dragged her away. Ruby was STILL freaked out from the sound she had heard come from her sister.

"You, um… You think this is how Blake and Yang felt, when we were in the hospital?" Ruby asks in a small voice, wringing her hands on the end of her cloak.

Weiss winces a little, not liking to remember that day in the slightest. It had been a horrible time for everyone. Both her and Ruby had been in critical condition, with the redhead being closer to death than Weiss had ever seen her. She had nearly lost her wife that day. She could only imagine what Yang was feeling, seeing her sister in such a state. She, herself, is feeling a pit in her stomach that refuses to go down, only serving to bring her nervousness even higher. "It's… It's plausible."

Ruby bites at her lip slowly, staying quiet for a moment and continuing to fiddle with her cloak. "She's gonna be okay, right, Weiss? And, the baby, too?"

"I know they will be. They WILL." The pale woman states simply, crossing her arms across her chest. "Until then, we'll just have to just settle down and wait for the doctor to give us news."

"I dunno if I can wait that long..."

Ruby feels a cool hand slowly clasp around her own and intertwine her fingers, eye glancing over to find Weiss gently smiling at her. That smile… She swears that smile could calm anyone down, make anyone feel reassured… She blushes a little and looks down, a small smile forming on her own face.

"How about now?"

"A little better..."

"Good, now… Let's go sit down, alright? Maybe it will help to quell our… pacing." Weiss murmurs, then leading Ruby over to sit down in a few chairs that lie in the waiting room. They're both still jittery, wavering on nerves that threaten to be torn apart at any moment. Ruby's knee, Weiss notices, is bouncing rapidly as she bites her lip, her eye staring up at the clock as if it would make a difference.

And, for some reason, she can't shake the feeling that she's being… watched?

Her head whorls around just in time to catch a pair of big brown eyes looking right at hers, making her jump slightly. She immediately calms down when she realizes that it's just a kid, albeit, one that really likes to stare. Wait, all kids do that, don't they? Weiss can recall several instances in which she would walk into a place with several children inside and all eyes would immediately go onto her. It creeped her out for a good amount of time before her wife (at the time, her girlfriend) pointed out that it was because she had such distinctive hair.

_Weiss, your hair's, like… Boom! Lookit me, my name's Weiss Schnee and I'm awesome! I mean, how many people do you see with hair like yours? Pure white? That's what I thought. And, that's why kids look at you. You're pretty and your hair stands out like a sore thumb! _

"Hi..." She is broken out of her thoughts by the voice of the small child reaching her ears, her eyes looking to take a closer look. Upon more than just a mere glance, she realizes that the child is a small, faunus girl with black rabbit ears. She hadn't noticed them initially because they were tucked closely to her chest. She also notices that she appears to be wearing a pair of footsie duck pajamas, with a small jacket over them (presumably for warmth).

"Hello..." Weiss replies quietly, causing a small smile to appear on the girl's face. She wishes that Ruby would look over here and talk to the child instead of her. She wasn't really good with kids, in her own opinion. Maybe it was the fact that they always just stared at her... Maybe it was some irrational part of her brain that feared they would start crying or something, that sound being one that made her unnaturally stressed. But, she supposes that she should just go ahead and stop being awkward about it.

"Is your mama having a baby, too?" The faunus asks sweetly, playing with the end of one of her floppy ears.

Weiss winces a bit at the reminder of her mother, which was still a pretty tender subject to her. Especially now that she had been reminded of the hospital visit that occurred because of what she had done. It's not like the child knew that, though. She wasn't a mind-reader. She pushes the thoughts that bubble back up down into the pit of her stomach, managing to slowly shake her head. "N-No. My 'mama' hasn't needed to have kids for a long time..."

"Oh. What are you here for, then?" She asks, her head tilting to the side just a little bit.

"My sister-in-law is having a baby. We're here to wait for her. I'm guessing you're here for a similar purpose?"

The little girl laughs, shifting herself on her seat to give her full attention to Weiss. "Yeah… Daddy said that the baby was coming in the middle of the night and that we had to go. He didn't have anyone to watch me, so here I am… He told me to be a good girl and wait right here where the nurses can see me. They're nice. They gave me apple juice, a little bit ago."

"Well, they certainly are..." Weiss says with a small smile, nodding her head politely as she lightly elbows Ruby in the side. No response.

"Maybe, if you ask, they could give you some apple juice, too?"

"Thank you, but I believe I will be fine." She elbows Ruby a little harder, this time, trying to get the huntress to notice how uncomfortable she is with speaking to this (admittedly, adorable and very sweet) child. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk… It's just that she was still slightly unnerved by children (and their big, inquisitive eyes that promise a million questions at once) of other people, slightly afraid she might do something to upset someone. "*Ahem* Ruby~ Aren't you going to say 'hello' to the nice gir-"

She blinks a few times as she sees that Ruby is staring toward a nearby door with narrowed eyes. More specifically, the window in the door. Weiss directs her eyes to where the huntress' eyes fall, her own eyes widening slightly. A pair of green eyes shimmer from just beyond the door, darkness obscuring all other features.

"Those eyes..." Ruby growls lowly, her mind flashing back to the psychopath with the Grimm mask on it's face. "Weiss, it's the person I met in the forest."

"Are you sure?"

Ruby can feel the eyes still studying her, still trying to figure out god knows what. "Positive." She grunts back, her hands clasping into fists. "What are they doing here? How did they even get here? What's the goal, coming into a hospital? C'mon, let's go get 'em. Be careful, though… Tendency to disappear, this one… I may not know HOW they got here, but they're coming out."

The redhead is up and toward the door in an instant, petals pouring off her skin as she disappears behind it. Weiss narrows her eyes and prepares for a fight, tussling the little rabbit's hair before standing to her feet. "Nice talking with you, Miss." She says quickly, bolting toward the door after her wife.

The first thing she realizes about this hallway she steps into is that it is darker than it should be. The normally bright and stark floodlights are completely inactive, leaving only a few assorted lights to cast eerie beams into the shadowy hallway. Why would the hospital have this hallway darkened? She walks a little further as she looks around, letting out a squeak of surprise when she bumps into a taller form. "Owch! Why, you..!"

"Relax, Weiss, it's just me."

"Oh. Very well." Weiss replies, putting down the hand that had been ready to blast ice upon the figure. "Do you see anything? Green eyes or otherwise?"

"No..." Ruby says quietly back, a small sound of irritation coming from her when she doesn't see anything. "Not a goddamn thing… Disappeared again."

Something, however, catches Ruby's eye and directs her attention completely. In the line of one of the stray lights, she catches faint bits of red touching the ground. Weiss slowly walks up to Ruby's side, her arms gently wrapping around the huntress' arm as she gasps quietly. "Ruby… What is…?"

Ruby is silent for a few moments as she looks down at the scatterings of red on the floor, confusion and a lack of information adding to her frustration. She didn't know why this person was here or what they even wanted, but one thing was completely certain to her… serving to make her more confused than she already had been.

Red petals littered the floor just in front of them, clear as day.

Ruby's eyes narrow as her good one glances around, as if trying to figure out where the source of the petals came from. She hadn't been using her semblance anywhere near that area and the concentration of them meant that it wasn't stray petals from where she HAD been. These had come from someone else. "How… How is that…?"

"...possible…?" Weiss finishes, slowly shaking her head as she walks up to the petals. She takes them slowly in her hand and shifts through them, glancing back at Ruby. "These look like yours, Ruby..."

"And, you call ME Mrs. Obvious…"

"Behave. And, I call Yang that, not you. YOU are Mrs. Rose." The snowy woman replies, taking a closer look at the petals. "Well, this person you saw is gone. But, they left rose petals behind. I'm going to have my scientists run a few tests on these petals. There are very rare instances of semblances ever being repeated while the same exists elsewhere… If there is, maybe I can narrow down a name by studying the energies in it..."

"Energies?"

"Your petals contain traces of your power, Ruby. A sort of manifestation of your powers being released… Like fire for Yang and ice for me. By studying these petals, I can determine the unique power signature of the person who used this semblance. Maybe it can help us track them down. That would certainly be preferable to be stalked, correct?"

"I think the 'duh' is implied, Weiss. But… why is this creep following us? Me, in particular? I mean… I ran into this person in the forest not even a day or two ago. Now, they show up at the hospital when I'm there? What do they want with me?"

"We'll have to figure it out a little later, Ruby. There's nothing we can do, at the moment. I can alert security to the fact that someone was here, for all the good it will do for a person with a semblance like yours. And… And, we need to go check up on Yang. She's in labor, remember?"

"Of course I remember! Um… You're right, we have to wait and… see what we have, here. Wait for results. I'll just have to be a lil' more careful until we find out what's goin' on. Do you… think they'll let us check in on how she's doing?"

"You do realize that I own this hospital, don't you? Even if I didn't, they aren't going to keep us away from her. Erm… Well, unless there's a medically sound reason. Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Blake was entirely on edge as those in the delivery room move swiftly to assist and watch for the baby's crowning. The doctors and nurses had informed both of them that the baby would need to be immediately checked for respiratory issues or any other problems before she could be approved for health, to which Blake desperately hoped she would be. Yang was doing a bit better, but not by much. The moment that the painful contractions had begun striking her body, the kicking in of her semblance being what produced the initial reaction. She had felt bad that Weiss had to drag Ruby out of the room when that happened, but it was really for the best. Both of the sisters freaking out in addition to Blake and Weiss freaking out would likely have led to an even worse situation.

Right now, Yang seemed intently focused on pushing with the doctor's instruction. Her eyes were still a deep crimson, little puffs of smoke leaving her lips as she grunts and moans in discomfort. The railing of the bed will no doubt have to be replaced, being crumpled and twisted beyond repair. Yang's power truly was something to behold.

A sudden clamor comes over the nurses, Blake's excellent hearing picking up the words 'I can see the head' and causing her heart to slam against her chest with reckless abandon. Yang definitely seemed to know what was coming, her wheezes shaking painfully from her breaths. Her head falls back as her body tenses, another push causing the doctor to get a little closer.

Blake can actually see a bit of the head, though can't see quite enough to tell yet. All she can see is the very top of the head from this angle, coated in a thin layer of blood and fluids. They're so close. It's been strenuous and more than a little bloody, but there are no obstructions. No nails slicing, no tail getting caught or stiffening in any way... She moves over to Yang and gives her sweaty face a small kiss. "Almost there, babe, she's almost out..."

The next minutes pass by in a seemingly (and excruciatingly) slow amount of time, loud groans and grunts spilling from Yang in quicker and quicker succession. More than a few (slightly embarrassing) curses join in the sounds, all the way up to the point where little Anna's shoulders slip out. It all comes easier, after that, the rest of her body being quick to follow. As she slides out, the first thing that pops into Blake's mind is how small her daughter is. Not TOO small, but certainly not the size that a typical child might be born with. Also unlike a human baby, Anna is covered in with tufts of a light, slick fur.

Faunus children were often born with fur that would fall off in the first few months of their life, a sign of the faunus' animal nature. If Yang weren't desperately exhausted and full of aches and sharp pains in the worst places imaginable, Blake imagines she would be cooing about how adorable and fuzzy her baby was... THEIR baby was. Definitely. But, she's still quite occupied with getting the very last of this done with.

The thing that makes her smile the most is that her fur is so obviously blonde, the same kind of sunshine blonde that Yang wore so well… The baby whines a little before letting out a loud shriek (a blonde tail with a lovely black tip swishing around in discontent), the umbilical being quickly snipped so that the small baby can be taken a short distance to be cleaned and inspected for anything wrong. Yang lets out a few wheezy gasps, groaning in slight relief after passing the placenta a few minutes later. The nurses clean her up, taking away the blood and mess so that they can cover her up a little. It was heard that the owner had requested to come in with her wife to check in on Yang, after all.

She looks like a mess, her hair clinging to her face and her skin having an overall clammy feel to it. Her crimson eyes are slowly shifting down to lilac, albeit at a very slow pace. Her gaze shifts slowly to Blake as her head lays back against the pillow. "W-Where… Where is she?"

"They're cleaning her off and checking her out, Yang… She looks… She looks small, but healthy." Blake murmurs as tears fill her eyes, her hands moving to squeeze one of Yang's tanned ones. "You did it, Yang… You did it..."

"Ohhh… Good..." An exhausted, weak smile comes to the blonde's face, a raspy and hoarse laugh rattling it's way from her chest. "Haa… Haa… I real.. I really fucked up that railing, didn't I?"

"You sure did..." Blake says with a tearful smile, placing a gentle kiss to the blonde's hand. "You sure did, you big, beautiful brute..."

"Ngh… Don't say things like that, you'll get me all excited. Don't want to come down on this, right now, wouldja? Oh, BABY."

"God, Yang..."

"Hey, I just gave birth, kitty… I get to make puns. I think that's the only thing keepin' me from passin' out, right now..." Yang says with another hoarse laugh, glancing over as the doctor comes back over to the bed. He looks serious, though Yang forces herself to chalk that up to being professional. The alternative that something could be wrong is something that Yang doesn't want to think about. What if she couldn't breath? No, no… Stop. She couldn't think like that. "H-Hey, what's up, doc? Everything… Everything alright with her? I-I heard her crying..."

"She certainly has a pair of lungs on her, that's for sure." The doctor says quietly, adjusting her coat a little and sighing softly. "She's a perfectly healthy child, despite being so small. She will most definitely live with no respiratory problems that we can see, but..."

Yang's hands dig into the railing again, her eyes widening as the doctor trails of on the word 'but'. Her breath hitches in her chest, wanting to ask… but, not being able to find the words for it. Blake finally answers with a soft 'what is it, doctor?'.

The doctor sighs softly, her face looking saddened to deliver the news after everything seeming to go so right. She had been working with Yang and Blake through this whole pregnancy with everything going splendidly for the mixture of species. They were happy, optimistic about the future… While the birth had been strenuous, nothing else had even appeared to be wrong. Until she had performed a few tests… The doctor looks down slowly, uttering the word that make Yang's eyes fill with tears.

"Anna is blind."


	4. Chapter 4

**Been a while for this story, too! I really apologize and thank all reading this for your patience. As I explained in the story I posted yesterday (But, I'll say it again, for those that didn't read it), my computer freaked out and I lost a good deal of progress. So, I had to re-write a good amount of this chapter over again. Very discouraging. But, it's here, now!**

**Hopefully, there will be less time between this chapter and the next. Fingers crossed! Thank you to all who have reviewed and liked this story, so far, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Anna is blind."

Yang blinks a few times, more tears dribbling down her face with each opening and closing of her eyes. She's completely speechless, caught off guard from such a happy, triumphant moment being snatched away from her with such speed and harsh force. She feels like someone just slammed into her gut with a sack full of cinder blocks, then laughed as they left the bag resting on her chest. Anna won't be able to see? She'll never get to see what her parents look like, see how beautiful the world could be… What were they going to do? She can't even look at Blake, her own wheezing breaths and tears being too much for her to deal with.

She doesn't think she could bare seeing the same look of heartbreak on her girlfriend's face, as well.

While Yang wheezes quietly, Blake remains absolutely silent. Her ears are tight to her skull, a look of confusion about her face. The faunus isn't quite sure what to think, right now. Her head is muddled up by so many thoughts flowing through it, though she can imagine that even more are filling Yang's. It's silent until a soft, quiet 'how?' comes from the blonde at her side. When she looks over, she can see the emotion heavily etched into the woman's face.

"It was simply… something that happened. Whether from the early birth or the mixture of your DNA, we're not certain at the moment. Other than that disability, she is a perfectly healthy child..."

Yang takes a deep breath, tearful lilac rising up to look at the doctor. "Can we see her, now?" She asks softly, a slightly hesitant look coming over the doctor's face that makes the blonde worry even more. What exactly was so wrong with their daughter that the doctor would hesitate to let them see her? Nervousness can't help but seep into her heart and down her spine, creeping slowly and threatening to overtake her completely. "Please… Let us see our baby..."

The doctor sighs quietly, giving a slow nod to the saddened blonde. "Now… This may come as a bit of a shock, if… you're not ready for it. It certainly shocked me a bit, thus the hasty diagnosis… Just… prepare yourselves, alright?"

Blake and Yang both nod, exchanging glances between one another. The look in their eyes seems to help both steel themselves for what they will see, not having a clue what could be wrong. The doctor moves over to where the nurses are cleaning Anna off, the baby wailing with the** insistence** of being heard. Blake, if she weren't so troubled, would be very amused that she had the exact presence of Yang when she was insistent about something. After wrapping the fussing baby up in a small bundle of a blanket, the doctor gently holds Anna in her arms. The slow walk back over to them makes Yang shift uncomfortably, her body quivering as the bundle is delivered gently to her arms. As she slowly turns the fussing bundle around, little Anna's face comes into full view.

And, Yang can see the reason for the doctor's quick diagnosis immediately, upon seeing Anna's face.

The girl's eyes are pure white, no pupils or iris' present in the slightest. However, they weren't like Ruby's (her sister's eye being a bleached and unnatural color), instead being a milky white in coloration. While it certainly wasn't exactly… normal, she had slightly feared something far worse. Though, tears still won't stop flooding her eyes as she sees the girl's eyes squint a little and stare straight ahead. She wasn't… 'She couldn't see her own mother', Yang has to think to herself with a slow sadness. She actually sniffles a bit as she looks down at the tiny girl, closing her eyes gently.

But, as she silently worries about such things, she hears a soft coo come from just below her face. It's followed by a soft structure flumping weightlessly down on her stomach, the blonde's eyes opening to see little Anna's head facing right toward her mother. Sticking out of the bundle is a blonde tail with a black spattering of fur at the tip, swaying clumsily and brushing Yang's stomach without a seeming knowledge of what it's doing. Anna's blonde ears flick slowly (having heard Yang's sniffle and directing her face toward the sound), another soft coo coming from her tiny lips. Though, this one comes out as more of a small whine.

Seemingly all at once, the worries vanish as she sees her child in her entirety. This tiny girl is the product of her and Blake, from their desire to bring to life their own flesh and blood child. Little Anna is her baby, whatever may be different with her eyes, and she's sure as hell not gonna use this as an excuse to feel sad and wonder what might have been. She shouldn't feel sad. Anna was a healthy, beautiful baby.

Maybe it would take a little for her to get used to having a blind child, but… they would get through this. With the amount of love filling her heart right now, she has no doubts that they could.

A slow smile comes to her lips as she looks over the soft, fuzzy fur that lightly covers the child's skin, her head tilting just a little bit. "Hey, there, Anna..." She murmurs, the girl's ears flicking toward the sound of her mother's voice. "God, Blake, she's so beautiful..."

She finally chances a look back at her girlfriend, happy to see the same look in the faunus' eyes, as well. The moment Blake had heard the soft coo of her daughter, seen the moving of her tail and the flicking of her ears… She knew that her being unable to see didn't matter. All that mattered was that their child was finally here, appearing to try and latch her mouth onto Yang's collarbone…

"Yang, I think she's trying to..."

"Oop! Hang on, kiddo!" Yang says gently, glancing up at the doctor slightly for approval. The doctor nods slowly, seeming to be happy that the mood has changed in the room. Usually, it went one way or another. Parents were either too filled with grief or accepting in a slow sense. While the reason for Anna's blindness still eluded her (as she had never seen eyes completely white like that, the eyes usually being deformed or too small for an immediate diagnosis like this one), she was glad to see that Yang and Blake seemed to be taking this about as well as they could. Yang certainly seemed to be feeling better after seeing her daughter, especially when the small girl signaled her hungriness by attaching to her collarbone.

Yang laughs softly, giving the baby a kiss on the soft fur of her head before slowly opening the hospital gown up. Gently guiding Anna to her breast, she smiles weakly as her mouth finally wraps around the proper area. Anna seems to immediately know what to do, quiet suckling sounds coming from her as she slowly gets used to feeding. The hand that isn't holding Anna slowly moves out to clasp Blake's, bringing a smile to the faunus' face.

Only Yang could bring her back after such a moment, her smile bringing light to the darkness once more. How did she do that? Blake had definitely been devastated by this news, as had Yang… But, the combination of seeing her child and seeing Yang's reaction had put her into much ease.

"She's got your ears~"

"Of course she has my ears, Yang. I would wonder what you've been hiding from me all these years, if they weren't." Blake replies (earning a small laugh from Yang and a pleasant hum from Anna in response), glancing over when she hears the quick pattering of boots on the floors of the hallway outside (more specifically, as her ears tell her, a pair of boots and high-heels). She smiles a little more widely when Ruby and Weiss appear in the doorway and are let inside after a moment.

Ruby is immediately at bedside, petals drifting all through the air as she looks at her sister with a mix of worry, happiness, hope, and slight expectation. It was duel parts hoping Yang was okay, as well as the baby. Though, with Yang smiling as warmly as she is, her worries are alleviated fairly easily. Her voice sounds relieved as she speaks, her eye lighting up. "Hey, you! How'd everything go? Sorry that Weiss had to drag me outta here..."

"It's fine, Rubes. I WAS gettin' pretty… loud. No harm done. I'm just glad you're here, now."

"Of course, sis! I wouldn't miss this for the world! Right, Weiss?"

Weiss, who had been watching the nurses clean up out of the corner of her eye (a slight look of unease in her icy eyes as she sees the blood), glances back to Ruby, Yang, and the still slightly hidden baby. "Of course we wouldn't. Don't be preposterous. Why would I ever miss my niece's birth for any reason, at all?"

"Aww, look at the little puffs of hair all over, Weiss~ Ohh, that's so adorable~!"

The pale woman takes a closer glance at Anna, blinking a few times as she sees how light and soft the fur was on the girl. She hadn't a clue that faunus looked like this as babies. She had always thought them to look similar to humans upon birth, albeit with tail or ears. The soft hair on the baby's head had been lovably mussed (likely from her mother), giving a look that reminded her fully of Yang. Though, the child was very quiet despite the presence of new people in the room and reminded her of Blake. It was an interesting thing to see, to say the very least. Though, she hadn't exactly seen all of her, yet. Her face was still hidden against Yang's breast.

Yang looks over at Blake and bites her lip a little, nudging her with her elbow and murmuring something near silently. This certainly gets Weiss' attention, as well as Ruby's. The redhead casts a quick glance back at her wife before focusing her attention on her older sister. "Is everything alright, guys? This is all happy, right?"

Yang looks back at Ruby with a slightly hesitant smile, looking down at Anna slowly. "Yeah, everything's fine. We were just tryin' to figure out how to… tell you guys..."

"Tell us what?"

Blake speaks up, looking between the two slowly. "Anna is blind… We just found out a few moments ago."

Ruby releases a tiny squeak of surprise, Weiss' eyes widening as this news is made known to them. Weiss's face quickly with a mixture of concern and sympathy (Ruby having a similar look on her face), her lips parting as her voice comes quietly out. "Yang, I'm so-"

"Don't."

"W-What?"

"What're you guys apologizin' for?" The blonde asks softly, her eyes slowly looking down at Anna with a loving twinkle lying deep within them. It gives a slightly more reassured feeling to the two aunts, Yang seeming surprisingly calm for this news, but still doesn't take away all the worry that they have. "It's no one's fault… Just how it is. Wait until you see how cute she is..."

She waits a few moments as Anna continues to quietly suckle, losing interest slowly after she had finished. Once completely sure that the child is finished, Yang gently coos her name over the girl's head. The little faunus ears at the top of her head twitch and direct the small face in the direction of the sound. It not only lets her face her mother, but lets Ruby and Weiss see her face for the first time. Weiss actually gasps upon seeing the milky white of Anna's eyes, hitting far too close to home for her. It easily reminds her of Ruby's damaged eye, albeit definitely a more natural coloring. Ruby, noticing her wife's reaction, gently takes one of her hands in her own and squeezes tightly.

Weiss only slightly calms down, sending a worried look to Yang and Blake. "How did this happen? Why… Why do her eyes look like that?"

"The doctor doesn't know. As far as she could tell, Anna is a completely normal, healthy baby. She just… doesn't have a pupil or iris in either of her eyes. She may have… been born that way, perhaps? Or, maybe her eyes did not develop correctly?" Blake replies, her ears flicking momentarily as Anna makes another soft sound. As Yang gently tends to the child, she turns back to Weiss. "Other than that, she doesn't quite understand it. As, Yang had a completely healthy pregnancy…"

"What are you going to do?"

"Simple. She's our kid; we love her." Yang says firmly, causing Weiss to quickly shake her head.

"That's not what I meant, Yang. Naturally, she's going to be different to take care of than what you prepared for."

"Well, yeah. I know that, Weiss. But… I'm not gonna treat her any different just 'cus she can't see, y'know? No sense gettin' upset about it. We're just gonna have to do things a lil' differently to work around it." Yang says with a smile, giving a slow nod to Weiss.

Weiss is, honestly, quite surprised by how calm Yang is being. If she had heard this news for herself, she would have been absolutely devastated both inside and out. Though… should she be surprised? That's just how Yang was. "If you need our help in any way..."

"Just you bein' here is help enough..."

Ruby manages a slightly wider smile, squeezing her wife's hand a little tighter in reassurance. "She really is precious. Wonder where she got that poofy blonde hair from… I'm guessin' it's Blake."

Yang snorts in laughter, Anna cooing happily at the sound of her mother laughing. "Yeah, 'cus Blake's about as blonde as you can be. Have you seen her? Dang, can't get blonder than that, right there."

Blake finds herself laughing, as well, Ruby and Weiss soon joining in with the cheery atmosphere. The doctor almost can't believe that this is happening. The atmosphere in the room had gone from heavy and sad to light and hopeful in such a short amount of time. She realizes very quickly that this is just a different sort of family. This was a family that did good things for each other, that had survived through enough to have this kind of hope fill them up. If young Anna was fit to be born to any family, she couldn't have been born to better women than Miss Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna. She knew that Anna was going to grow up just fine with them, sight or no sight.

The friendly banter between them goes on for a little while longer, before Yang's eyelids start to grow a little heavy. Anna even starts to have a similar look, drooping slowly down onto Yang's chest. It's quickly decided that the two should probably be allowed to rest from their experience. After all, giving birth AND being born were certainly exhausting experiences. Blake, very hesitantly, agrees to head home, herself. After all, she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the whole night.

Though, she made sure to give her girlfriend a deep kiss and her daughter a sweet one before even thinking about moving out of the room. "I love you, Yang..."

"I love you, too, babe. Now get outta here before ya drop, ya big goof." Yang murmurs into the faunus' lips, giving a playful nip before leaning back slightly.

"Are you sure you'll be alright? I can stay the night, if…"

"I'll be fine, Blake-y. Don't worry so much. Probably just gonna be in here a day or two, tops. Then, you're gonna have to deal with both of us. Won't THAT be scary?" The blonde says with a snicker, Blake smiling a little as she hears Yang's reassurances. "Seriously, babe. Get some sleep."

Blake's ears twitch a little as a sleepy sound comes from Anna, causing Yang to softly laugh again. "See? Anna agrees. 'Go get some sleep, momma! I'm gonna do it, too'!"

"Alright… I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

Ruby and Weiss slowly leave the room to give the two their moment, holding hands as they move out into the hallway of the hospital. Weiss looks slowly up to her wife, biting on her lip just a little. "Do you think they'll be okay? With Anna being blind, I mean..."

"I think so. Did you see how happy they looked? I'm sure it was pretty sad, at first… But, Yang has a way of making the best of things, y'know? I think everything's gonna be alright with them. I always knew Yang would make a good momma, someday."

"Mm. I suppose you're right about that. If anyone can get through this, it's them."

"Oh, don't give me that, Weiss~ I know for sure that you're gonna spoil her rotten."

"I-I will not!" Weiss huffs, her cheeks taking a light pink as she pouts at her wife. "I will not be the type of aunt to lavish my niece with all manner of-"

"Uh… honey? You already did. Remember that little shopping spree you helped out with?"

"I-I… That… That doesn't count."

Ruby giggles, leaning in to slowly kiss the woman's rapidly warming cheek. "Weiss, that totally counts. You nearly made the cashier faint will all the stuff you bought. I don't think I've ever SEEN so many stuffed animals in one place, before. It was like fluffy heaven, that shopping cart!"

"It was not… Oh, fine, yes. Yes, it was 'fluffy heaven'. I'm… sure Anna will like how soft they are. That will be good... Ruby?"

"Hm?"

"What are we going to tell them about… the person you saw? The one in the Grimm mask..."

Ruby is silent for a moment, her eye looking away slowly. "I… We can't tell them. Not yet. They've got too many other things going on. We'll tell 'em when they get settled back home, okay? Yang just gave birth an'… Blake just needs a bit to get all rested up. We'll tell 'em about it. Don't worry. We'll just do what we can until then."

"I'm worried, Ruby… You're being put in danger again and I..."

"I'm gonna be fine, Weiss..."

"...That's what you said, the last time."

"Weiss, that was different. You know that."

"How is it different, Ruby? There's still a threat to your life and I feel like I'm doing nothing about it, just like last time. I was lulled into thinking everything was over, when it was so far from the truth… I won't let that happen this time. I can't… see you get hurt again..." Weiss says quietly, looking down slowly and sighing softly. "I just can't."

"Weiss..." Ruby murmurs, using her arm to gently pull her wife closer to her body. "I'm a huntress. I'm gonna get banged up, sometimes..."

"That's when it's Grimm. How many times have we seen that it's not the Grimm who are the only monsters in the world? Cinder, Torchwick, my mother… All wolves in sheep's clothing. All monsters underneath their human flesh. How much longer until we meet the next monster? How much longer until we run out of the luck that's managed to keep us together so long? In reality, how much longer until one of the monsters succeed, Ruby? What if they succeed just because I wasn't careful enough?"

Ruby blinks a few times, Weiss quietly continuing. "I suppose that's why I can't see the world like Yang does. She may always be able to see the good… I only see the bad, now. She sees a world full of life and new experiences, full of change… I see a world full of danger and bigotry, where the next snake is coiled up nearby and waiting to bite you."

"We both know that's not what you think, Weiss." Ruby states firmly, tightly holding her wife to her. "You see the change in the world, too. Weiss, you see the beauty and goodness in the world and I KNOW you can. You're worried about me and scared of what could happen, but… Don't let it take you over. Never let fear change who you are. Whatever monster comes next, we don't need to fear… 'Cus, we'll all face it together. Just like we always have. So, bring on the Grimm-mask wearin' weirdo. They don't know who they're messin' with. Not really."

Weiss slowly looks back up at Ruby, the redhead smirking a bit. "If they're goin' after me, they're gonna hafta deal with my wife, too. An', don't tell her I said so, but she's one tough lady."

A slow smile coming to her face, Weiss leans up to gently kiss Ruby's lips. "You are such a corny dolt. You know that, don't you?"

"It's what I do~"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Weiss pales slightly, the red on her cheeks just growing that much brighter as she hears Blake's amused voice from the doorway. She had just realized how closely her face was leaned in toward her wife's. The expression on her face certainly wasn't portraying thoughts of innocence and sweet kisses, that's for sure. Wincing and looking over to where the faunus' voice was coming from, she is gifted with the sight of Blake tiredly smirking at her. "Need I remind you that this is a hospital? The area where children are born, no less? We can't have you two doing those weird things you do, here..."

"Which weird things? The roleplay or the stuff with the whipped cream?"

"Ruby!"

Blake laughs a genuine, happy laugh, causing Ruby to smile wider. "Both."

"Hmph. Anyway, do you want us to drive you home, Blake? You look very tired..."

"What about you two? You've been up all night, same as me."

"I'm fine to drive, trust me." Weiss replies with a smile, nodding and gesturing down the hallway. "Shall we?"

* * *

Blake quickly moves around the house, getting things ready for her girlfriend's return home. The hospital had wanted to keep both her and Anna over for a few days, This was both to make sure that nothing was wrong with mother or child and to offer counseling services to the blonde, if she needed to talk about her daughter's condition (though Yang didn't seem to need it, as talking it over with Blake and her sister seemed to be enough for her). But, today was the day that they were finally coming home. Since the couple had no car (and a motorcycle was completely out of the question), Weiss had insisted wholeheartedly that Rose Dust offer them transportation to and from the hospital. For reasons unknown, Weiss had seemed to be a little bit jumpier in the past few days.

It was like many things were slowly fraying her nerves to nothingness, the look in the woman's eyes seeming vague and distracted every time that Blake had seen her.

She would have to remember to inquire the reason from either Weiss, herself, or Ruby. But, that was to be done after she was sure that Yang and Anna were completely comfortable. She had to admit, it made her feel sad when she stepped into the beautifully painted nursery that she and Yang had leaped into not a month or two prior to the birth. But, she hadn't let that sadness consume her. She only had to repeat Yang's words to herself, ensuring that everything would turn out just fine. She couldn't believe, sometimes, how much hope Yang was able to fill her with.

For all intents and purposes, learning of her daughter's blindness should have destroyed Yang. But, it instead made her more determined. More determined than she already had been to be the best mother she could be. Her determination was contagious, filling Blake with a very similar feeling.

If her daughter could not see, there were plenty of other ways that she COULD interact with the world. Sound, for instance, seemed to be a very pleasing stimulus to Anna, as she always made her happiest-sounding gurgles when Yang would laugh. Though, the sounds Anna made definitely seemed to please the blonde, as well. That was her Yang, bouncing back stronger than ever.

Weiss, as much as she wanted to be, couldn't make it to greet Yang when she got home. Ruby had regretfully told Blake that Weiss had some very important business to attend to with the company, but would be over to visit in the next day or so (Weiss, herself, had even called Blake to apologize, to which Blake had to assure her it was okay at least a dozen or so times). Ruby, however, was free of hunts for the time being and eagerly agreed to join her for welcoming Yang back home.

"So, what exactly did Weiss have to do? She never did tell me what the business she needed to attend to , today, was..." Blake asks, glancing over at Ruby as she arranges their room into a temporary room for Anna. For the first few nights, they wanted to keep her close to them in case any problems occurred. Afterward, if everything went well, she could be moved to the nursery they had built.

"Oh, um… Just business stuff, I dunno." Ruby replies with a shrug, carefully squishing a soft teddy bear before placing it into the tiny crib by Yang and Blake's bed. "Probably stocks or progress meetings... maybe even a new tech demo, if she's lucky."

"Mm. Does she take you to those, often?"

"Heh~ Only the tech demos. She knows that I can't stay awake during the stock stuff. I try, but every time I do..."

"You fall asleep."

"Yeah… And, I snore pretty loudly..."

"Yikes."

"Yeah, some of those business types weren't too happy about that."

"What did Weiss have to say about that?"

"She stared down one of the guys who was talkin' about me and made him shut up with just a glare. Then, she took me out for ice cream after the meeting." Ruby says with a chuckle, leaning back on the wall for a moment. "She DID tell me that it might be best if I didn't come to those meetings anymore, 'cus they're pretty boring. I think she just doesn't want me to get my feelings hurt."

"That makes sense. I've heard that it gets pretty cutthroat in the high-lien corporations. Weiss may be a different kind of businesswoman, but that doesn't mean others are quite ready to change yet." Blake says, her tail making a gentle swish behind her as she adjusts a small blanket inside the crib. "You know how much she worries about you..."

"I know. She was always fussy over me, before, but… It's been different, since..."

"Yeah. We all were pretty shook up by that..." Blake says quietly, slow memories of the fight on that fateful day seeping into her mind. The kink in her tail begins to pulse with a familiar ache at these thoughts, her teeth slightly gritting inside her mouth.

"Ain't that the truth?" Ruby replies with a chuckle, her eye looking down at her boots. "At least she doesn't blame herself, anymore. She just puts herself into making changes, erasing everything that made her company bad. She works her ass off, but she's making real change, y'know? I think it helps that she's got something to put herself into."

"I think it helps more than anything that she has a supportive wife who loves her to death."

Ruby blushes and scratches the back of her neck, a few embarrassed bits of laughter coming from her. "Heh, y-yeah… I… I guess."

"I really don't think you know how good you are for her, Ruby." Blake says with a smile, causing Ruby to blush a little brighter. "Even before you were together, you always had a positive effect on her life."

"Okay, okay, enough embarrassin' ME, what about you and Yang? You guys seem to be doin' pretty good for each other, too."

"I won't lie. She does so much to keep me upright, so much more than I think she even knows… I… I think I would have been more torn up about Anna being blind, if she hadn't been there. She's just… so positive about everything, when it comes to life. Like… when I look into her eyes, I know everything is going to be alright. No matter what happens, it'll all be okay."

"Yeah, she has that affect on people. When mom died, I think she was the only thing that kept me going, some days. It was that way she smiled at me and ruffled my hair, just… looked out for me. You could practically see the love in her eyes, when she would take care of you..."

A moment passes between the two women before Ruby coughs awkwardly, Blake laughing a little. "Well, that was a very serious heart-to-heart between two sisters-in-law about a certain blonde, ahaha~"

"Well, technically, we're not sisters-in-law, Ruby. Me and Yang aren't married..."

"Aw, pish-posh! You're about as much my sister as Weiss is Yang's! Whatever the laws, you're still family to me, Blake! Uh… Sister-in-word! Anyway, uh… When are you supposed to go get Yang and Anna?"

"About twenty minutes. That's when Weiss said that the transportation would be around to take me down. You think you'll be able to-"

"I can hold down the fort just fine, thank you very much. I'm not COMPLETELY incompetent."

"Just regular incompetent."

"Yeah!"

Blake laughs a little more, giving a slow shake of her head in amusement. "Well, then… Can my 'regular incompetent' sister-in-word help me finish this up?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Weiss' heels clack loudly upon the tiled floor of the hallway, her eyes steely with determination and a small case being held tightly in her hand. It's a shame she couldn't see Yang and Anna when they arrived home, but she saw this as a viable reason to have to miss the occasion. Thankfully, Ruby was there and could tell her how everything went when they returned home tonight.

Turning left, she moves swiftly down another hallway before reaching a set of double doors and throwing them open to walk into a large testing room with large machines and many assorted people at work. A dark-haired, lightly stubbly man with a white lab coat jumps a little from the table he had been leaning over, adjusting his glasses when he sees that the owner of the company coming toward him. Oh, yes, it was most certainly a quite terrifying sight to behold. Weiss Rose was a fair and pleasant boss (putting much money toward research of new technologies), but vastly intimidating despite her short stature. There was just something about the way she carried herself that made her seem larger than life. Perhaps it was the fact some of her scars were visible, showing how hard-fought her battles had been.

Either way, to see a determined Mrs. Rose coming toward you with such a determined expression either meant something very interesting… or very bad.

His assistants grow silent, halting in their tests and examinations to watch her walk right up to the lead scientist. He clears his throat and straightens his tie, walking around the table to meet the white-haired woman halfway there. "Good evening, Mrs. Rose. If I had known you were coming, I would have straightened things up a bit. Are you here for updates on healing dust? We haven't made much progress on it, yet. The chemical composition is still too hazardous to directly come into contact with skin without burning it, much less take away scars-"

"No, that is not what I came to discuss, today, Anderson. Regarding the healing dust, take your time with the testing. I will have no tests of it until we are sure that it will work. We're not in any hurry to release it. Anyway…" She states, walking over to the table he had been leaning over and silently clearing some space for the case she had been holding.

The case clicks open, revealing that it's filled with red rose petals. "This is what I wanted you to work on."

"Rose petals, ma'am?" Anderson asks, adjusting his glasses once more and running a hand through messy black hair.

"These are not just ordinary rose petals. These are the leftover energy signatures of a semblance, after it has been used."

"Like your wife's petals?"

"Precisely."

The scientist strokes at his stubbly chin, reaching in to take a petal from the case. "And, you want us to test your wife's semblance petals… why, exactly?"

"Simple. These are not my wife's semblance petals. These came from a suspicious figure who my wife has seen far too often to be coincidence. Whoever they are, they appear to have the same semblance as her. Since semblances are unique to specific people and rarely ever repeat, I was hoping..."

"...that we could identify this mysterious person through her energy signatures. Since the energy signatures are unique to one person, we could easily track them down." He finishes, nodding his head slowly and placing the petal back into the case. "I think we can do what you asked… It may take some time, though. Semblance energy is tricky to work with."

"Do it as swiftly as you can. This person being found is of the utmost importance to me."

"Understood. Jennings!"

"Yes, sir?" A tall, deer faunus says as she steps quickly up to him (her horns sticking up out of brown hair), brandishing a clipboard. "Did you need me for something?"

Anderson gestures her toward Weiss, a friendly smile on his face as he does so. "Mrs. Rose, this is Maryanne Jennings. One of our best and brightest upstart scientists, heading up the testing division for our new products. Jennings, this is Mrs. Weiss Rose, the owner of the Rose Dust corporation."

"P-Pleased to meet you, ma'am!"

"A pleasure, Miss Jennings." Weiss replies professionally, reaching her hand to lightly shake the other woman's. "You must really be something special, if Anderson is bestowing you with such high praise. He may be friendly, but he doesn't give out compliments unless you truly deserve them. I am confident that you will be quite the asset to the company, yes?"

"I am definitely excited by the possibilities with this company. Both in a business sense and in a social sense. If you don't mind me saying, accepting faunus into high-level positions such as mine is… astounding. You have no idea how great it feels to finally be recognized..."

"Brilliant minds such as yours should not be kept down under any circumstances, Miss Jennings." Weiss says simply, a smile on her face. "That being said, I am pleased you find the working conditions adequate."

"Oh, yes, Mrs. Rose! I love working here."

"Excellent. Now, I truly hate to run off on such short notice, but I have a million things that are calling for my attention, as well. So goes the life of an owner, I suppose. I trust everything will be taken care of?"

"Of course. Jennings. Take that case of petals down to the Analysis Lab; I want to start the investigation, myself." Anderson tells the faunus, gesturing back to the case Weiss had brought in.

"Right away!" The woman says, nodding quickly and moving to take the case in her hands. Her shoes patter on the ground as she speeds away, moving out of the large room and to a downstairs area.

Anderson turns slowly back to Weiss, smiling a bit. "We'll contact you when the analysis is complete, Mrs. Rose."

"Very good. Have a nice day, Mr. Anderson." Weiss replies, turning on her heel and moving off to the next thing demanding her attention from her. She has to admit that, the sooner this person targeting Ruby was found, the sooner she could feel at ease. If Ruby was in danger, she was going to do whatever it took to get her out of that danger. Despite the talk she had with Ruby at the hospital reassuring her, she still felt that an air of caution was still to be used.

She couldn't let any harm come to her wife again.

* * *

Blake drums her fingers onto the steering wheel of the car that Rose Dust had provided, Blake having insisted that she could drive the car herself. Waiting just outside the hospital pickup area was quickly fraying her already shaky patience. She wanted to see her girlfriend. She wanted to see her child. She wanted them both to finally be home and comfortable, to finally start the life she and Yang had been so eager to start. To think, all those months had finally amounted to this…

As a spring breeze runs gently through the open window, she's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't notice a figure walking slowly up to the car… until it's too late.

*Smack*

A wet kiss is suddenly pressed to her cheek, Blake jumping a good amount as she quickly turns her head to the side. Yang grins and waggles her eyebrows, gently bobbing a cooing bundle in her arms. "Heya, gorgeous~ Waitin' for someone in particular?"

"Oh, you know… Two beautiful blondes."

"Aren't we all?"

"Just get in the car, you idiot."

Yang laughs heartily, quickly moving around to the side of the car and climbing in. "You got the carrier?"

"Of course. It's in the backseat, all hooked in like it's supposed to be. How's she doing?"

"Oh, you know. She was gettin' a lil' fussy, earlier, but calmed down after a bit. I can't believe how calm she is… Just like her momma, right?"

"If she could see how noticeably un-calm her 'momma' was, right now, she would have quite a different outlook on life. I've been jittery the whole ride down..." Blake says in a slightly quiet voice, Yang leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "You have no idea how quiet that house is without you in it, Yang."

"Thought you liked quiet..."

"Not that kind of quiet."

"Well, now it's gonna be louder. Don't worry. She's got a set a' lungs on her, when she does decide to cry, hehe~" The blonde chuckles, then directing the bundle toward Blake. Anna stares forward, making a small sound before leaning in a little bit. Blake laughs softly, Yang slowly handing the child into her arms with a happy smile. "That's momma, right there, Anna..."

Holding this tiny bundle, Blake finds herself more at peace than she's been in several days. "Hello, Anna..." She murmurs to her daughter as she leans forward to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

The girl's ears flick as she hears the soft sound of Blake's words, her face gently nuzzling into the woman as she begins to quietly purr. Blake bites her lip, gently squeezing the little faunus tighter. "We're going to take you home, now, okay? You get to meet aunt Ruby..."

Anna coos and gives another gentle purr, her tail peeking out of the bundle and swaying slowly. Yang just watches for a moment, smiling a little wider with every small kiss that Blake presses to their daughter's head. "Yeah… Let's go home."

* * *

The sound of boots slowly rings out as a darkened figure walks through an abandoned warehouse, remnants of petals drifting lazily down from clothing. On the figure's face rests the Beowolf mask, cracked and dirty from the age of the beast they had slaughtered. Through the dim light of the area, they can make out five forms standing nearby. Boxes are stacked neatly on one side, ready for unloading at any time.

"I've been in to see her. She is the one we seek." The figure says lowly, brushing petals off their clothing and drawing the attention of the few in front of them. From behind the mask, a pair of wolf ears lower tight to the skull. "The plan is in motion. The coming time will be crucial to it. Remember that."

A large man in front of the figure crosses his arms across his massive chest, the shattered mask of an Ursa a slightly loose fit on his face. A black cat tail sways slowly from behind, brushing the ground briefly before resting onto it. "We've got it, Beowolf. It'll get it done."

"It had better, Ursa... You all know better than anybody, how important our mission is. We cannot **afford** to miss a single step." The figure says with a chuckle, walking slowly over to one of the boxes and trailing a nail along the wood. "Where do we stand, now?"

One feminine figure steps forward slowly, wearing a mask made of modified Nevermore bone. Horns poke out from behind the woman's mask, her voice dropped to a low and raspy tone. "We make sufficient progress and our numbers grow larger every day… We should be ready right on time."

"Good… Very good, everyone. Now, we move onto the next phase… Come the time of the Schnee's speech, the world will be made quite aware of our presence. Everything will fall perfectly into place."

_They will fear the dark, once more._


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, there! Faster update, this time! Well... faster than last time, at least. Also, it's very late in the night, so I apologize if I sound incoherent. Anyway! I would just like to tell everyone that this story DOES have my own views on the faunus and semblances, so it may be proven wrong in the actual show. This is just what I think. :)  
**

**For those who don't know (or have forgotten, for those few that read it), my views on faunus culture are explained just a little in the one-shot 'Way Up North' on my profile page. A certain scene references some facts from that story, which you will know when you read. If you have any questions about something, tell me so in a PM and I'll answer it! Last thing, I promise, I may be getting a Tumblr page so that I can upload some art for RWBY (among other things) and my story. If that happens, I will put a link on my main page and those who want to check it out can check it out. I blame Mikotyzini, you silly person. ^^**

**Phew! Well, that was a lot of stuff! Thank you for reading, everybody, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhh-haaaaaaa!"

Blake's eyes drift open, bleary vision slowly adjusting to the darkness of the room as she glances around. It was the fourth time, tonight, that she had heard the sound of Anna's wails from the nursery. Truth be told, the baby hadn't been sleeping very well. And, she was letting her mothers know it. Very loudly. Yang hadn't been kidding when she said that the girl had a pair of lungs on her. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see her girlfriend starting to slowly sit up.

"No."

"Mm?"

"You're going to stay right here and go back to sleep, Yang. I'll go put her back to bed."

"Blke, i's rly not..." Yang mumbles, her voice slightly slurred from her sleepiness. After all, she's insisted on going to take care of Anna the last couple times (and, somehow managing to convince Blake that it was okay).

"Hush." Blake murmurs, giving the blonde a tender kiss on the cheek before starting to sit up. "You've been up more often than necessary. You're not going to get me to agree with you, this time… Get some sleep, love. I can handle her."

"Mn… What if she's hungry, again?"

"I doubt that's the problem, Yang."

"She's just so restless… I don't know how to put her to sleep and have her STAY asleep, y'know? She'll just sleep for an hour or so and wake up… Should we move her back in here?" Yang says quietly, rubbing her eyes and glancing toward the door with tired eyes. The constant interruption of sleep has definitely taken it's toll on the new mother, bags beginning to form under her eyes. "Maybe that would help?"

"I think that being able to hear us sleeping would only keep her awake. It'll take some time for us all to adjust, Yang. Her included. We just have to play around with what works and what doesn't, what makes her most comfortable. What happened to 'no worries', hm?" Blake asks, leaning her head in to brush her lips to Yang's slowly. The blonde sighs appreciatively into her lips as they kiss for a few moments, pulling back afterward and smiling sleepily at the faunus above her.

"It went away after I started getting an hour, tops, of sleep a night."

"You're preaching to the choir, at this point. Try sleeping with MY ears, then you can complain." The dark-haired woman teases, sneaking another kiss in before rolling off the bed. She lands on her feet in a crouch, causing her girlfriend to snicker. "What?"

"So ninja, even when you're just goin' to put your daughter back to sleep..." She yawns in response, stretching and giving her girlfriend an unintentionally good view of her very full, round breasts… It makes Blake aware that they hadn't been intimate in a week or two. They had been a mixture of far too tired and busy to do so, Anna requiring quite a bit more attention to be kept happy than you would expect from a newborn. She really was a nice and quiet baby, but she had a problem with being startled very easily. Not only that, but the problems with sleep were beginning to wear on the entire family, Anna included. But, they were hoping that they would be able to figure out something to help her sleep through the night, eventually.

Anna's disability definitely made things a little harder, in that respect. Both of the mothers were putting their focus completely into adjusting what they had planned for into something more friendly and comfortable for their blind child. They loved every minute of seeing Anna, but it was certainly a taxing experience.

Until they got used to all this, anything else would have to wait.

She makes a mental note of the fact that they hadn't, sure that Yang would appreciate a little... down time when they were both up to it.

"You know me… Have to keep up my skills."

With that, she stands back up and begins to walk out the door (though, not without holding a hand to her mouth as she hears Yang mumbling to herself and cuddling closer into the pillows). It's a short walk to the nursery, her eyes soon greeted with the calming lavender of the darkened room. In the crib ahead, she can see the rustling of sheets and tiny fists of a very upset baby. Anna is wailing quite loudly, her tail swaying erratically to voice her irritability. Not that Blake needed any indication to her daughter being upset, but that sight certainly reaffirms it.

"Aww, Anna, what's the problem?" She coos gently, lifting the baby from her crib as she continues crying out. "Is my little Anna having trouble sleeping? Shhh..."

She gently sways her body as she holds Anna close to her, little sniffles and sputters coming from the girl as her little hands hold Blake's kimono as tightly as she can. She definitely seems to calm down a little from the both the reassuring tone and being able to touch the soft fabric on her mother's skin. Anna whines quietly, blonde tail continuing to sway below her (albeit with slightly slower motions than before).

"See? That's not so hard, is it? Shhh..." Blake whispers to her daughter, pressing a small kiss to the small tuft of blonde hair atop her head. Anna's blank eyes stare ever forward, her little cheek pressed to her mother's chest as tiny whimpers quietly slip from her lips. In response, the faunus begins to slowly sway around the room. She tries to think of what to do, what her own maternal instincts were telling her to do…

Almost without thinking, she begins to quietly sing.

She sings in a tongue that many would consider to be long dead, but was still known in the most remote of areas. She doesn't use it often, if ever, for the sole purpose that it made her even more a target to those who hated faunus than she already was with ears and tail. She had only really ever used it for times where she was to do missions in areas where villages of cat faunus who were still clinging desperately to their old ways were located. The first time she had even used it in years was on a mission with Ren and Nora, where it had been necessary in order for the two to make head or tail (no pun intended) of what the panicked faunus were saying.

That was forced, but letting the silky sound out of her mouth feels more natural than it ever has before.

She doesn't remember where she learned this particular song in the language… The only image that comes to mind when she tries to remember is a silhouette holding her small body tight, a beautiful voice filling her ears as it sung this very song. It's a memory that is undoubtedly bittersweet.

She wishes she could remember more of that silhouette, but… Then again, it would probably hurt her more to remember. And, she doesn't want that.

She feels Anna calming down in her arms, the little face of her daughter directing it's attention toward the sound of Blake's singing. Little, blonde ears flick toward the sounds and a small, happy sound comes from her lips. Blake stops singing for a moment, smiling and kissing Anna's head with a pleased smile. "You like that, sweetheart?" She asks, receiving a happy (and, thankfully, sleepy) gurgle in response.

"Well, we'll have to keep that up, won't we?" She murmurs, giving another gentle kiss between fuzzy ears. Another sleepy sound passes through the girl's lips as she presses into her mother, leading into a gentle purring that does everything it can to melt Blake's heart. She starts to slowly sway around the room again, her lullaby once more filling the room. It's a rather… relaxing experience for both involved. The words spill from her mouth softly, Blake's own eyes closing as she sings to her daughter. By the end of the song, she can only hear the soft sounds of Anna sleeping.

"Good… Sleep well, Anna." She whispers, slowly walking over to the crib.

"That really did the trick..."

Blake turns her head slowly around, seeing Yang leaning against the door frame. She has a heartwarming smile on her face, strands of golden blonde hanging down slightly over the features. The faunus blushes a little and bites her lip a little. "How… How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long… I heard a beautiful voice in the nursery and just had to check it out..." Yang replies, lilac eyes meeting amber and holding them there. "Just as I suspected… A beautiful woman was right at the end."

"You should be sleeping, Yang..."

The blonde snorts, pushing herself off the frame and into the room. "We should all be sleepin', babe. Restless runs in the family, it seems."

Yang comes closer, her tanned arms soon wrapping around Blake and moving her closer. Her face nuzzles into Blake's neck, a content sigh coming from her. "Where'd you get that song from? I don't think I've ever heard you sing that..."

"I don't know, it just… came to me." She murmurs, glancing down at Anna as the child sleeps peacefully in her arms. "It felt natural, I guess."

"It must have been… She really brings it out, doesn't she?"

"She really does..." Blake replies, finding a smile coming to her face as she hears the affection in her girlfriend's voice. The blonde certainly wasn't lacking in affection for either of 'her girls' (as Yang had started refering to Blake and Anna as), her tone completely full of love. "I don't think I've used that language that freely in years..."

"Well, I recall you cryin' out somethin' in that tongue the first time MY tongue did it's magic..."

"Oh, hush." Blake replies with a smirk, smacking Yang's thigh with her tail as the blonde giggles behind her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"I know." Yang says, making sure to give her girlfriend a light kiss on the neck. "It's fun to think about, though."

"Well, there goes the moment..."

"Nah, it's still here. You just gotta pay attention, is all. To me, it's not surprisin' that you'd know just what to sing… Always thought you'd be a really calmin' presence for her, Blake. Ya always manage to calm ME down when I'm upset, after all… If ya can do that with me, you can really easily do it with an overall calm baby… Plus, ya got a great voice. Don't tell Ruby I said so, but you've totally got a better singin' voice than Weiss~" Yang chuckles, winking and earning a small laugh from Blake.

"Oh, definitely not. Ruby will fight you tooth and nail on that."

"Yeah, if the great 'Nora v. Ruby' war was anythin' to go by. Who won that one, by the way?"

"Neither. Both got dragged off with their respective spouses by their ear."

"Oh, right. Heh, the look on Weiss' face was hilarious~"

Looking back down at Anna, Blake's ears flick a few times before she directs a glance back at Yang. "We should get her back in bed. Maybe she'll sleep through the night, this time..."

"I wouldn't doubt it. You should sing her to sleep more often, Blake. She really seemed to like that…" Yang replies with a grin, directing Blake's attention to the contented look on Anna's face as she coos in her sleep. "It should be our nightly ritual or somethin'..."

"I'd be happy to… Won't we?" She coos to her daughter, smiling gently as she walks a little closer to the crib. She sets little Anna slowly into it, covering her with one of the blankets and stepping back. Yang's arms, once more, find themselves snaking around Blake's waist. Though, this time, the tug backwards is a little more forceful. Another kiss is gently pressed to her neck to contrast the tug.

"I love you." Yang murmurs, resting her chin atop Blake's shoulder. "You know that, right?"

Blake tilts her head to lean in and kiss at Yang's lips, a small purr coming from the faunus. "Of course I do, Yang..." She murmurs, giving another few kisses before pausing a hair's width away from another.

She can practically feel the blonde shiver in response to her breath brushing her lips, lilac eyes shimmering as she tries to lean in closer. "I was just… I know we haven't really had… time for each other, lately..."

"Well, with a new baby in the house, I wouldn't doubt it."

"I didn't want ya to think I wasn't because I didn't want to-"

"Yang, don't say that. I know… We're not always going to be able to have time for each other. Especially not when Anna is getting used to everything. That doesn't mean we're avoiding each other purposely… unless you really are..." Blake says, directing a smirk and a playful nip to her lover's lip.

"Yeah, like I could ever ignore the most amazing woman ever… I'd have to be an idiot to do that. Biggest idiot of all time, Yang Xiao Long." The blonde chuckles, Blake smiling in response and leaning in to let another few kisses touch to her girlfriend's lips. "Biggest… idiot... ever..."

When the small kisses are ended by Blake, Yang doesn't seem to quite be ready to stop. Her breaths are coming out in small, light pants, her body pressing closer to the faunus… clear signs that Blake has picked up on over the years. "Blake..."

"Yes, Yang?"

"I, um..." She can hear the blonde gulp quietly, something that only Blake knew that she often did. Unbeknownst to the public eye, who saw her as an unstoppable juggernaut badass, Yang definitely had moments that anyone would classify as absolutely adorable. "You wanna…?"

"Do what, Yang? Read a book? Have a midnight snack?" Blake asks with a smirk, her tail swishing up to gently trace the blonde's thigh. "I thought you were tired..."

"Well, I'm… really awake, right now. Might need a little… somethin' to tucker me out."

"Mm. Very well… Bedroom. I'm going to make sure Anna's comfortable. Clothes off by the time I get there or I'll roll right over and go to sleep. I don't think either of us really want to waste time messing around."

Yang makes a happy sound against Blake, already excited despite her slight sleepiness. It was totally worth a little less sleep to spend some much-needed time with the love of her life. "Thanks, babe… Love you so much~ You're the most awesome girlfriend ever!"

"I try."

Yang moves from behind Blake to lean into the crib and press a gentle kiss to Anna's forehead. "Night, Anna. Let's hope you get a good night's sleep, sweetie… You're probably as exhausted as us, huh? Well, mama's lullaby should help you out… She's got a beautiful voice, doesn't she? I think so, too."

Blake smiles at Yang's words, the woman then turning around and winking at her before walking toward the door slowly. "I'll be ready~"

A light slap to her behind sends her from the room with a happy laugh, Blake shaking her head in amusement. She walks closer to the crib, amber eyes glancing over the tiny form sleeping away. "Your mother's silly, isn't she? She loves you so much, Anna… We both do. Sleep well, my beautiful child." She murmurs, leaning down to kiss Anna's head in the same place that Yang had.

She pulls the soft blankets gently over the sleeping child, smiling warmly when she hears the girl coo happily in response to the touch. For the rest of the night, at least, she seems to have found a good sleep. She's peaceful and so comfortable… It was something she had been wanting for her daughter since she arrived. With a final smile at the sleeping baby, she takes a few silent steps out of the door.

She was promptly tackled by Yang as soon as she entered their room.

* * *

"And, so, I would like to thank you all for coming to support this important and crucial cause. For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the cruelty and lack of equality given to the faunus communities. You all are taking the first step to a new world. A world of peace and acceptance, free from the hatred of our forefathers… We will be different than them! Better in every way! With your help, we can bring the change that is so desperately needed." Weiss says with a determined voice, pacing slowly around with the microphone in her hand. She glances back out to the audience, her icy eyes glinting as she looks back down just a bit.

"With your assistance, we will give the White Fang the funds to aid faunus families. Laws for equality, scholarships for the brilliant minds held down by societal stigmas that they say they cannot do it, aid programs that give those in need the help they deserve instead of being ignored… Rose Dust will lead the charge of this movement, with a donation of one million lien!"

Silence is her response, her eyes glancing back out at her audience before a small, awkward cough comes from the pale woman. "*Ahem* You have to imagine that a rather large check is brought up right next to me..."

"Da!"

"Thank you, Anna, that is very helpful feedback. I shall have to work on that, won't I?" Weiss replies, her audience laughing a little bit.

Her audience consists of her wife, Yang, Blake, and her niece. Quite an important audience, if she did say so, herself. Yang smiles, shifting the blonde girl on her lap just slightly and tussling her blonde hair a bit. Anna giggles in response, leaning into the touch. Ruby, somehow managing to contain her desire to scoop up the child from her sister's hands and squeeze the heck out of her, casts her eye back to her wife and nods. "I don't think you need to change anything, sweetie! It was good! Very inspiring!"

"I don't know… I think it still needs work, perhaps more revising. I'm talking to both important officials and to faunus. It has to be perfect. This is the speech that starts off the the event. It has to do everything to convince everyone of the changes we want to make. Ugh..." Weiss sighs, running her hand through her white hair. "So much is riding on this event… It may have the fun things on the outside, but on the inside is so much political maneuvering… We need to get more companies and politicians backing us, if we want to bring about these changes."

"Well, with you throwin' your weight around, that's definitely gonna turn heads. Ain't it? I mean, Rose Dust is one of the biggest companies out there. You doin' just about anythin' is gonna have people watchin' closely..."

"I realize that, Yang. And, that makes it all the more crucial-"

"And, I think you're doin' just fine."

Blake nods in agreement, her tail swaying gently behind her. "I agree. Your words are quite inspiring. And, while it may seem to you that you're not doing enough… That large sum of money will definitely kick-start the White Fang's campaign. But, it's more than just throwing money at a cause for the publicity of it. You really believe in this cause. You're passionate about it. And, that shows. Those who don't give pause and think on your words weren't really the best to help out, anyway."

"Couldn't have said it better, myself!" Ruby says, nodding and shooting up to move over to her wife. She gives the woman a kiss, giggling when Weiss blushes and rolls her eyes (though, she can't help leaning in to kiss Ruby back a little). Anna, who has a petal on her nose from Ruby's semblance being used, sneezes quietly and sniffles.

That certainly lightens the mood by quite a bit, everybody laughing lightly in response to the tiny girl. Though, Weiss covers her mouth to cover her embarrassingly girly laugh… not going at all unnoticed by her wife, who leans over to give a kiss to the pale woman's hand. "Honey, you've got an amazing laugh, don't hide it~!"

"Honey?" Yang snorts in laughter. "Oh my god, you're totally turnin' into THAT couple."

"What couple?"

"That couple that comes up with cutesy ways to refer to each other..." The blond replies, smirking before Blake cuts in with a smirk of her own.

"Who are you to say that, Yang? How many different things have you called me, over the years?"

"I… Well, um..."

"Let's remember some of them, shall we? Blake-y, sweetie, sweet-ums, love, lovie, babe, bae, baby," That particular bout of alliteration makes Ruby giggle, Yang putting her hand on her face. "Sexy, Blake-alicious, sex kitten (get it?)… Oh, and, my favorite, the Queen of Oral-"

"Hey! My sister AND our baby in the vicinity!"

"Better she hear it from me and not from the streets."

"Anna?"

"No, Ruby."

"Oh, you are bein' SO bad."

"Does she have a crown?" Ruby asks suddenly, causing both Blake and Yang to look over at her. "You said she was a queen? Queens have crowns. Duh..."

Weiss stares at her wife for a moment, not quite sure if Ruby actually thinks there's a crown involved or if she was simply playing along and teasing them. But, the way she just looks so innocently between the two of them… She… She had to be joking, right? "Erm… Ruby, you DO know that it was merely a figure of speech, correct?"

"Well, yeah! I was just asking if Blake wears a crown while she dines out."

Weiss falls right over.

Yang is covering her mouth with her hands, snorts and giggles forcing their way through them despite it all. Anna has moved her head toward Yang with a smile, little giggles of her own coming out whenever her mother shakes a little with laughter. It was official. Ruby had lost absolutely none of her cuteness. And, Yang thought that Ruby pretty much knew how cute she was, at this point of her life. Or, at least how cute Weiss found her. "You okay over there, princess? Can't go faintin' on stage, can ya?"

"The people I surround myself with..."

"Are absolutely delightful, right?" Yang interrupts with a grin, causing Weiss to groan. "Hey, you hafta admit that we're a lot better company than those mooks with suits that are always paying visits to your place all the time."

"On that, we can definitely agree."

"Maybe you could use a little more time with someone who knows how to talk about more than stocks an' bonds. We should all go out, somewhere!" Yang says, standing to her feet and resting Anna in her arms. The girl whines slightly at the sudden displacement, though quiets down when her little hand touches Yang's hair. The blonde smiles down at her and gives her a kiss before looking back up at Weiss. "Somewhere nice, I dunno. Just to hang out."

"That actually sounds quite nice..." Weiss admits with a nod. "Perhaps a park of some sort?"

"I believe that Oum Park is fairly close by." Blake says from her spot on the couch, stretching a bit as she stands to join Yang. "I think it would be nice to walk around… I know for a fact that Anna would enjoy the sounds. Especially birds."

"Ohhh, yeah, she DOES love her bird sounds. You know that stuffed blue bird you got way back when, Weiss? She loves that thing to death. She'll just squeeze it and listen to it make sounds, then laugh and laugh and laugh~"

"Glad that what I bought could be put to some use… You know, there WERE a few more things I wanted to get her. I saw a rather brilliant toy with a good amount of texture-" She stops when she sees Yang put her hand to her mouth, holding back laughter. "Oh, what is it, now?"

"Oh, nothing, Weiss~ Go ahead an' tell us all about the textured toy you wanted so much. I really wanna know about it!"

Weiss pouts at her in response, especially when Blake begins to snicker a little bit. "Oh, you two are AWFUL!"

"I prefer… brilliant."

"You two wouldn't know brilliant if it hit you right in the face. Here I am, trying to help you out, and you're making crude jokes. Some thanks I get."

"Are we going to the park, sometime?" Ruby asks from her position leaning on the wall, Anna somehow having gotten into her arms while everyone was talking. Yang stares at Ruby for a moment, wondering exactly how the redhead had done that before just letting it go. Ruby was good at things like that. "Cus, you old ladies are doing a WHOLE lotta talkin' and arguing~"

"Ruby Rose, what did you just call me?"

"Nothing, the love of my life and wife who is, OH, so beautiful~!" Ruby replies, batting her eyelashes and holding Anna up like a cute, baby shield against annoyance. "It was just an expression, right? Y'know, you guys are bickerin' and stuff…."

Yang laughs and shakes her hands, resting her hands on her hips and looking over at Ruby. "Ya dug yourself in a hole, Rubes. Now ya gotta dig yourself out~ Anyway, uh, Rubes?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind holdin' Anna for a bit? I gotta go change my shirt. I'd rather not go out in a shirt that's covered in spit-up spots. Blake, can ya get the baby bag ready?"

Blake nods, Ruby giving an enthusiastic 'of course I doooon't~', and the couple moves off to get everything ready. Ruby looks down at Anna, cooing at her with about the biggest smile Weiss has ever seen (well, maybe aside from their wedding day). "Gonna hang out with aunt Ruby, now, right? Aren't you excited?"

Anna's ears flick in response, her face directing toward the sound of Ruby's voice. Her hands reach up, finding a bit of Ruby's (about shoulder-length, at this moment) hair and curling her fingers around it. She doesn't tug it, instead just sort of shifting it between her fingers and making happy gurgles. Weiss, who has moved back toward the couch, catches a bit of the interaction out of the corner of her eye, soon finding herself staring as Ruby talks to the child. Anna seems to be enjoying herself, as Ruby just seems to have a way with children… But, it's not that that draws a soft blush to the pale woman's cheeks.

It's how natural it looks, time seeming to slow as Ruby casts her eye back towards her. It looks down at the baby for a moment, then looking back to Weiss as a sort of serene smile comes to her face.

"Right?"

Weiss shakes her head, snapping herself out of whatever trance she had been in to stare dumbly at her wife. "I-I'm sorry, what was that, Ruby?"

"I said, she sure likes hair, doesn't she?" Ruby replies with a smile, bobbing Anna a bit as the girl squeals happily . "She touches Yang's hair a lot, I know that..."

"Perhaps it has to do with touch. Yang does take extraordinary care of her hair… I don't think I've ever had someone own as many hair-care products as I do, and then some." Weiss murmurs, still trying to get control over the blush on her face. What exactly had that been all about? "I imagine it would be quite pleasant to the touch, for a child."

"Oh! She should touch your hair, then!"

"W-What?"

"Your hair is always SUPER soft! Plus… wouldn't you want a chance to hold her?"

"Ruby, I don't know… Kids don't always..."

"Weiss, c'mon… She's gonna love you, just talk to her! She reacts to you, even if she can't exactly talk yet. And, she's such a sweetie-pie! Aren't you~?" Ruby coos as she walks a little closer to Weiss, who sighs quietly and holds her arms out. "Let's go visit auntie Weiss, now!"

Anna is gently passed to Weiss, who intakes a deep breath in worry when she thinks she's holding her wrong (relaxing a bit when Ruby reassures her that everything is just fine). However, the pale woman is completely stiff, looking down at the faunus nervously. The baby stares blankly forward, not doing much other than letting her tail sway lightly behind her. Then, she starts to whimper and whine, the sound shooting a look of distress to Weiss' features. "I, um… What am I doing wrong? I knew this was a bad idea, just take her back, Ruby-"

"Weiss, you're bein' all stiff… If you're uncomfortable, she's gonna be uncomfortable, too. Just relax. And, talk to her, too. Remember, she can't see you. So, you have to let her know who you are... You're her auntie Weiss and you love her, right?" Ruby says gently, her voice doing a great deal to dispel Weiss' worries.

"Y-Yes."

"Well, let's hear it, then~"

Weiss looks back down at the child before relaxing herself just a little bit, letting her hand gently rub her back. "Um… Hello, little one..."

Anna's ears twitch at the slightly familiar tone of voice, having heard it before. Her face directs up toward Weiss, milky eyes looking just past her. Weiss glances over to Ruby, who gives her a smile and a thumbs up in response. Weiss takes a breath and looks back down at the little faunus with her own smile. By now, the girl has a very happy expression on her face and gurgles toward Weiss as she reaches her little hand toward the woman's hair. After giving it a small pat, her fingers curl around the white locks to slowly shift it around between them.

That certainly seems to entertain Anna quite a bit, a giggle spilling from her lips as her ears twitch for any more sounds that may come up.

That's about all it takes for Weiss' heart to melt. Pretty soon, she's cooing and talking about as much as Ruby was. Though, she stops when she realizes Ruby is looking at her with a wise smile. She blushes a great deal and looks slightly away. "W-What?"

"It's just nice to see you so happy around kids, Weiss. See, Anna's havin' a blast, too!" Ruby replies, though (out of the corner of her eye) she can see the redhead's cheeks begin to sport the lightest of blushes. She's just about to ask why when her scroll suddenly hums in her pocket.

"Hm? Ruby, can you hold Anna a minute?"

"Yeah, sure, Weiss! What's the call for?"

"I haven't the faintest idea." Weiss says, though the pale woman knows it must be important for her to be called at this time. Ruby, while not knowing what the call is about, knows about Weiss' preferences. Most of her staff knew that she liked spending time with her family and did NOT like to called about business affairs unless they were essential. When it was something she felt that the her employees could handle without her, she would be especially annoyed.

Weiss flicks her scroll on, going to the messages and glancing over them. The one right at the top made her eyes widen a bit.

_Semblance petal analysis is finished, Mrs. Rose. When you have the time to come in, I need to discuss the findings with you. They were… quite unexpected and troubling. I would suggest sooner rather than later. -Anderson_

Weiss sighs quietly and rubs her temple, though her face holds quite a bit of worry to it from the message. What could be troubling about them? This was not helping her previous fears in the slightest. She had already been on edge enough in the last few weeks as the analysis was being done, but this recent news was serving to steadily give her nerves a swift kick right in the most sensitive spots. If this was going to put Ruby into danger, she wanted to know what it was. She wanted to know what it was and destroy it.

Ruby can practically see the slight darkening of Weiss' face, spreading worry through her own. "Weiss? What is it?"

"Analysis of the petals we found at the hospital. Anderson said it was troubling. You probably still haven't told them about the person stalking you, have you?"

"I was going to do it, eventually..."

"Ruby, this isn't a joke. If the lab results are troubling, that can only mean danger for you."

"I know that, Weiss. But, they're just so happy, lately… Have you seen Yang? Or, Blake? If I told them that, it would just worry them. I'll do it, eventually. When things aren't as hectic." Ruby says, slowly walking toward Weiss.

"Well, I'm not going to brush this off! The last time I brushed off reason, you lost your eye!" Weiss says in a tone louder than she meant to speak in, Ruby's eye widening. Anna starts whimpering, her ears hugging tight to her head. Anna is promptly tended to by Ruby, who looks up at Weiss slowly.

"Weiss… You know I don't blame you for that. I thought we'd gotten past that..."

"Yes, well, when you're thrown into danger again, these thoughts just so happen to come back. Surprisingly enough, I worry about you. The fact that you don't seem to care is, quite frankly, troubling."

"I DO care, okay? Maybe I just want my sister to have some normal in her life, for once! She's happy, Weiss! She's got a girlfriend who loves her, an adorable kid, and nothing that involves being shot with a sniper rifle… So, excuse me if I just want her to stay that way for a while. I can look after myself, this time!"

Weiss looks back, her eyes looking right toward Ruby causing the redhead to look away. She hadn't appeared to have meant to say that. "You aren't going to tell her. You never were."

"...No."

"Ruby..."

"It's just like I said, I just want her to be able to be normal… She's… always looked out for me. She sacrificed her own happiness just to keep me happy. After Summer died… she never got her own time to grieve. She had a little girl who had just lost her mother to take care of while her father kept the family afloat… not even taking into account that Summer was the second she'd lost. She did it all so I might grow up with some sort of normal." Ruby looks down at Anna, her fingers brushing along the fluffy blonde of her hair. "This is what she should be doing, Weiss. Worrying about soiled diapers and crying babies, not about me. Is that too much to ask?"

Weiss is still looking at Ruby, her arms folded across her chest. She sighs quietly, leaning back against a wall. "I understand your intentions. I just hope you know what you're doing, Ruby. You must promise me something, however."

"Yeah?"

"If this turns out to be as bad as I'm feeling, you must tell her what's going on. Regardless of what your feelings are, she would want to know if you were in heavy danger." Weiss says, then kicking off the wall and walking closer. "I'll find out what the analysis on the semblance petals revealed, then we'll meet and decide what our next move is. This person will not be able to evade us forever and… I will do my best to keep Yang out of it."

"You're the best, Weiss."

"I try." Weiss replies, leaning in to kiss Ruby on the cheek. "Tell Yang and Blake that something came up. Work related. Too bad… A walk through the park really did sound relaxing."

"We'll just get a rain check. Sure ya don't want me to come with?"

"No, that's fine. I'll see you tonight."

* * *

"What do you have for me, Anderson?" Weiss asks as she comes down into the lab, her face once again becoming quite determined. Only this time, Anderson notes, she looks quite a bit more grave. "You said the results were troubling. Show me. Now."

"Right away, Mrs. Rose. Jennings has the findings right on this console over here." He replies, leading his boss over to the deer faunus quickly. "When you asked us to find the energies of this semblance, we thought it was going to be a bit difficult. As you know, semblances are specific to a person, with very few duplicates. Just getting into the records and finding a duplicate of Ruby's semblance was going to be difficult. Even with the energies, we needed to find another signature that matched."

"Get to the point, Anderson, I don't have time for a lengthy explanation. Who is endangering my wife?"

"Sorry. Jennings?"

The faunus nods and clacks her fingers onto the keypad of the console, bringing up information on a large screen. "Semblance duplicates, while being the same power as another, have different _signatures_ that are unique to the person using it. Like… Like fingerprints. Twins, for instance, may look the same, but have completely different fingerprints. Duplicate semblances are like twins, essentially."

"I think I get it. But, this doesn't tell me anything." Weiss says with a small sigh, rubbing her temple.

"I-I'm sorry, Mrs. Rose. I just wanted you to know exactly what we were talking about, so that… you could understand what an odd thing this is." Jennings mumbles, blushing a little.

"What is?"

Jennings looks to the screen, tapping a few more buttons. A small window comes up, holding data about Ruby's semblance petals. Weiss glances over the energy signature, slowly nodding as another window comes up. "That was the energy signature to Ruby Rose's semblance petals. Here are the stats to her ability. Ruby Rose's semblance is a greatly enhanced speed, the spent energy being formed into petals that pour off her body in a mass that depends on how fast she is going. The energy signature within her petals is unique to only her."

"Correct."

"Now… Here are the petals you gave us from the hospital scene."

Another window comes up, lining Ruby's energy signature up with a new energy signature labeled 'unknown'. Weiss eyes scan over the data for only a moment before her eyes widen a bit. "That's not possible… The signatures are exactly the same."

"That's exactly what makes this so weird, Mrs. Rose. These petals are an exact copy of Ruby Rose's petals. There are no flaws, no other genetic differences… For all intents and purposes, these ARE Ruby Rose's semblance petals."

Weiss takes a slow step back, watching the data on the screen for a good minute in silence. This made no sense to her. She knew for a fact that Ruby had not used her semblance in the hospital room they found them in. This was, as Anderson said, most troubling. What could it have possibly meant? More so, what would Ruby's reaction be? A complete match to her wife. How was it possible?

"Keep running tests. I want every bit of this energy signature studied. There has to be a difference, somewhere." Weiss eventually says, looking to Anderson and Jennings. "Anything we can use to find this person. Anything."

"Of course, Mrs. Rose."

As Weiss walks away from the area, she can't help but know that things are going to be as bad as she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

**Quick update? What? I must be slipping... Anyways, yes, I actually managed to get a surprising amount done the very next day after I posted the last chapter. Now, I just have to make that a habit for my lazy ass.**

**Speaking of my lazy ass and the things I do, I now have a tumblr page! For those who didn't see it on my main page, I am located at mustachedmrblender over at tumblr, though it may take a bit to find. Mikotyzini said she had a bit of trouble finding it. x) I'd include a link on the main page, but fanfiction doesn't show website url's for some reason. I dunno. Anyway! I don't have much on there, right now, (just a drawing of Ruby from this story) but I can promise I will put more on! I'm planning to draw some Anna sketches soon. So, if that interests you, go and check it out! I'll take requests for drawings, as well, if I have time. :) We'll see where it goes!**

**And, now, onward with AFBIS! The next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Beowolf..."

"Yes, Ursa? What is it?" The darkened figure asks in amusement, glancing at the large faunus from behind their tattered mask. "Surely it must have been most important for you to interrupt my work."

"Our inside sources say that the Schnee is investigating you. They found the petals you left behind at the hospital… If they discover the truth-"

"My dear friend, you simply worry too much… Have you no faith in your leader? No faith in the one who will bring the real change to the world?" Beowolf slowly walks forward, wolf ears tight to it's head as it does so. Ursa flinches a little as a nail is run along the bottom of his chin. "You simply have to trust in me… I know what I'm doing. They won't figure it out. And, by the time they do, It will already be too late. Have I ever led you astray?"

"No, Beowolf, I meant no-"

"Shhh… I know you didn't." Beowolf whispers, glowing eyes looking right up into his. "Go to Nevermore. I want updates on our progress. The sooner she is ready, the more comfortably the puzzle pieces fall into place… The Schnee makes her move, soon… and we must be prepared to make our presence known."

"A great day, that shall be."

"Indeed. And, that, my dear Ursa… is only the beginning. The beginning of a new age. Now… run along and have fun. I have work to be doing… and a certain friend of mine to visit." In a flash, Beowolf has disappeared. Only a small amount of red petals are left behind, Ursa standing in the room alone.

He looks down with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as his tail sways behind him. "Just be careful..."

* * *

Ruby walks slowly down the sidewalk, the hood to her cloak pulled up and over her face. She certainly had a lot to think about, a great deal to be confused with. When Weiss had returned home, last night, she had told Ruby all about the findings the lab had discovered, more specifically that this person who had put Ruby at such unease had an exact copy of her energy signature. Not only was their semblance exactly the same, so was every part of their energies. It was more than a little hard for her to wrap her head around.

How was that even right? Duplicate semblances were hard enough to understand.

Was it, like, a clone or something? No, that was stupid.

Weiss had been absolutely freaked out, almost not wanting to continue her plans for the day until Ruby assured her that everything would be fine. Several times. This was obviously beginning to wear Weiss down, between the coming charity event and the ever-present shadow of… whoever that was hanging over her head… Weiss was pretty much frazzling down to nothing but nerves. She managed to keep a professional appearance, but Ruby could tell just by the constant look of edginess in her wife's eyes that she wasn't exactly okay.

Although, she had never quite been the same after her mother's attack. Needless to say, she kept Crescent Rose on her hip to reassure her wife that she would never be caught absolutely defenseless.

When she looks up, she finds that her steps have led her to the forest at the edge of town. She sighs and leans slowly on one of the trees, looking out over the town as the sun sets down upon it. It was a nice evening. She really wishes Weiss didn't have so much work to do. Hell, she wishes that they could have something to talk about something other than safety. They really had some things to talk about.

Particularly about something that Ruby had been finding herself imagining more and more, these days. Unfortunately, it was looking to be nothing more than just that for the time being. There wasn't really time to discuss. Honestly, why couldn't life just give them all a break, for once?

_Well, that's somethin' you're gonna have to discuss with her, if ya want it in the future._

"Maybe after all this business is over..." She mumbles, then holding her hand up to rub her temples. She has started to feel almost a light… dizziness come over her, a winded feeling that leaves her breathing a little harder. That's when she sees them.

Petals.

Her head jolts up, ignoring the rush of nausea that accompanies the movement, catching the very figure that she's been trying to figure out up in a tree. The figure is standing on a large branch a little deeper into the forest, green eyes flickering with amusement. With the Beowolf mask is a long, black cloak that covers anything that might help her identify who this might be. She knows from experience that the gruff voice of this person makes it difficult to identify as a man or a woman. The obvious wolf ears and tail clearly show off their faunus nature. Ruby growls, her eyes narrowing. "You..."

In just a moment, it has bolted away from the area and Ruby's eyes narrow. "Oh, no you don't. You're not getting away, this time!"

She takes off quickly, running up the thick trunk of a tree and landing on the branches. From here, her eye can pick up the rush of red from the petals a few branches away. She crouches down with a frown, feeling herself tingle with anticipation, before shooting forward with a yell. As fast as she can, with petals shooting behind her in large quantities, she barrels into the figure and sends them both through a tree. The resounding 'crack' echoes through the forest, Ruby quickly recovering and bolting toward the downed enemy.

She manages to pin the person down… until a brutal headbutt is delivered to her face, the crack of the hard Grimm mask smacking her skull and sending her back a little. As she holds a hand to her forehead in response, a dirt-covered thumb jabs right into her left eye and eliminates her sight completely. She yells out, frantically trying to rub the filth out, only to be struck across the face with a backhand. It's followed up with three quick punches nearly as fast as her own, the last punch resulting in a loud 'crack' coming from Ruby's nose. It also sends her off her opponent and onto the ground, groaning in pain and rubbing her eye. The huntress can taste the distinct metallic tinge of blood in her mouth as her nose trickles hot blood.

She can see the blurry figure stand up, wolf ears peeking out from the beowolf mask. "Quite a punch you pack, yeah? My back's going to be killing me, come morning. Though, you could say the same for your face, I suppose. An eye for an eye- Oh, wait. You only have one left. Better not, then. You should have just let me go. I could have dealt with that. But, no, you had to just push and push and push..."

Ruby can hear the person walk up, a contented sigh coming from them as they stop right at her. She feels the nausea wash over her again, a firm hand pressing at her back and keeping her face down on the ground. Her head is pounding from the abuse as the nausea takes hold, her already blurry vision becoming blurrier. "So much better, now that I'm here, though… I certainly won't let an opportunity go to waste. I had truly forgotten how tasty you were. We'll have to remedy that, won't we, Ruby?"

"W-What are you..." Ruby tries to ask, her mind starting to panic despite the swimming of her head in confusion.

"Shh… Try to enjoy it, sweetheart. I know I certainly will."

"Get off me!"

"You're in no position to make demands, _human_." The figure says, voice dipping into an odd lilt. It's almost a sing-song kind of voice, chilling Ruby to her very core. It's almost as if this person knows exactly the position they hold, confident about it, as well. "For the first time, a human is completely at a faunus' mercy… Poetic, is it not?"

By this point, the nausea has become overwhelming. She breathes heavily, nearly throwing up several times, the chuckling figure not even needing to hold her down now. The strain is making the blood trickling from her nose gushing out with the nausea and spilling all over the grass. Despite this, it's hand remains on her back. "What… are you… doing to me?" Ruby asks, weakly grasping at the grass.

"Nothing you need to particularly concern yourself with… Oh, yes, MUCH better..." With a laugh, the Beowolf-masked figure stands up and takes her hand off Ruby. "Thank you for your time, Mrs. Rose. It's been… enlightening for us both, I'm sure. I'll be watching you closely, Mrs. Rose. Until we meet again…"

It takes a few steps forward, green eyes glancing back at the downed huntress. "We'll be in touch. Do take care of yourself, dear. You look dreadful."

With the last of her consciousness fading, she catches the dark form surge off. The red petals they leave behind float in the wind, a small groan coming from Ruby as she passes out. Just as she does, she can hear a whisper on the wind in the lilt of the enemy's voice.

_You will learn to fear the darkness, once more._

* * *

"Councilman Baily, _really_, I think you're missing out on a great opportunity by not attending the event. Just think, by supporting the faunus, you will get access to a large voter pool. Statistically, faunus don't vote quite as much because none of the politicians are making the remotest effort to grant them better rights. If you were to start to support them-"

"With all due respect, Mrs. Rose, going to that event is political suicide to anyone who wants to have any sort of significant career. To attend would mean significant loss in voters on the human side, something that is a much greater risk to my career than the support of a few faunus."

Weiss grips the edge of her desk with a scowl, nails digging into the polished wood. "They aren't a risk. Consider… Consider them an investment. An investment that will be grateful that you are supporting their cause. Even you have to see the potential of the backing of so many faunus. The faunus population in just Vale, alone, is quite significant. This event will have representatives from all over Remnant, from various tribes, even faunus who have become quite wealthy-"

"I will not jeopardize my political career for this event. I don't need the support of the faunus and, let me make it perfectly clear, I don't WANT it. Everything is fine just the way it is without you kicking the beehive like you are." The man says, Weiss just knowing the expression of annoyance that is on his face just from over the phone. "Mrs. Schnee may have been a lunatic, but she knew full well that the faunus were a dead end, politically-"

It's Weiss' turn to cut the conversation off, her icy eyes brimming with fury as her hand slams on the desk. Ice pours off her hand and freezes a small spot on it. "With all due respect, _Councilman_, I am the owner of the single-most valuable company on Remnant. I have eradicated the Schnee Dust Company and brought it back to be better than it ever was under her influence. It would not be wise to make enemies with me. You can start by not bringing that monster into conversations."

A silence is her response, the councilman obviously stopping to consider his options based on the icy tone in her voice. "I apologize. That was quite the low blow and unfair. Though, I still am wary of this event. You have to understand that it is a… dangerous notion to consider. Not only does it put a person's career in danger, but also their life. To support faunus has never been a good alley to go down."

"I have the best security planned for the event. Three senior huntsman and huntresses to patrol, my wife in a sniper's nest over the area, and countless of my company's personal guard to watch the premises. As for your career… sometimes we have to take risks for the greater good. I promise you, this event will change your mind. You may not want the support of the faunus right now, but you will by the end."

"We will see."

With the call finally ending, Weiss groans and slumps back in her seat to rub her temples. "It can never just be 'I'll go because it's the right thing'. It always has to be 'I'll only go if it gets me something in return'..." She says lowly, her eyes glancing over the scheduled list of important people set to attend.

It was open for anybody, but it was wise to keep track of such people… especially when every single one of them had an agenda of their own to pursue. Granted, some of the human politicians and wealthy people attending believed in the cause as she did. But, she was certain a good number were there either by way of heavy convincing or just to see the event fail and raise no money. It was unbelievably frustrating to deal with these people. If her hair weren't already white, she imagines it would have been with any other color by now.

As if this weren't stressful enough, she still had to deal with the person stalking Ruby. Though she hadn't seen this person in a long time, Weiss wasn't going to take any chances. She almost didn't let Ruby go out for that walk, today, but… You can't keep Ruby Rose confined. She needs her space. She needs to be able to run free. If only Weiss didn't have so much work to do. The woman is so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't notice the door to her office open slowly, her secretary poking her head in slowly and smiling a little.

She, in fact, doesn't notice until the girl is right up at her desk and she clears her throat.

Weiss' head jolts out of troubling thoughts to look toward her. She rubs her temple again, a sigh passing through her lips. She had to wonder what else was needed, what else her secretary had words from. Some other council member or noble coming to say they thought this was a bad idea? Weiss makes a note to get the larger bottle of aspirin, the next time she's at the store. "Yes, Ashley, what is it?"

Ashley, one of two secretaries she alternated between (the other being a nice, quiet young man named Chris), was a fox faunus of the orange variety. She was quite the little bundle of energy, but very organized for her age. One of the reasons she needed two secretaries was because Ashley was also a student (a business major, interestingly enough), making this job a part-time despite the rather nice pay. Nevertheless, she worked very hard when on the clock.

"I thought you might like some tea, ma'am. That last call sounded like a doozy..."

"You have no idea. That would be nice, thank you… Hm. That look on your face suggests that isn't all you have to tell me." Weiss says, taking the small plate and cup the faunus offers her before looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

The redhead blushes a little and nods, gesturing her hand back. "There's two people here to see you. A man and a woman. The woman said that she was… um… 'totally your mistress, here to throw marshmallows at you'? I was going to call security, but the man said it was important… I believe they parked a ship on the front lawn…?"

Weiss smirks a little, shaking her head in amusement. "Yes, let them in. Of course she would say something like that."

"Very well. They shall be in momentarily. Enjoy your tea, Mrs. Rose!"

"Thank you."

Sure enough, just a few moments later, the doors burst open to reveal happily bouncing head of orange hair that dashes up and promptly takes a seat right on her desk. "Hello, Nora."

"Heya, Weiss! What's up, buttercup?" The woman asks, tugging her goggles off her face and letting them drop to the desk with a clunk. She shifts her hair back (having grown a little longer since the last time Weiss saw her), a small laugh coming from her. "Sorry if I'm all sweaty, Ren was TOTALLY-"

"For one, I really doubt she wants to hear that, Nora." Ren's voice comes from the door, making Weiss smile and glance over to him. Ren gives her a friendly nod before glancing to his wife and raising his eyebrow playfully. "And, two, that's not why you're sweaty. If it were me, you'd be sweatier than that."

Nora giggles, looking over to Weiss and leaning in to whisper to her. "It's truuue~ I get REALLY sweaty. Like 'dripping down your back' sweaty. But, it's 'cus Ren is REALLY good. Do you ever get that sweaty, Weiss?"

"I-I'm not going to discuss how sweaty I become during intercourse with you, Nora."

"Aw, okay..."

Trying to force down her blush (and doing horribly), she looks back to Ren. He's smiling that calm, reserved smile of his, showing just the amount of affection that Nora has for him deep within his eyes. She's honestly surprised they haven't disappeared for a while and come back with a child already, with the way they carry on. Blake had told her that they often got very touchy-feely while on missions, after all. "*Ahem* So, was there anything you two needed? I wasn't exactly expecting visitors, this evening."

"Yes. There were a few things me and Nora would like to discuss with you, particularly about the security of the event."

"Really? And, what would that be?"

"There's not enough."

Weiss scoffs a little, leaning back in her chair and casting her eyes right at Ren's. "You don't think that four professional huntsman can guard an event? Not very confident in our abilities, are we, Ren? What exactly is the problem you see?"

Ren walks a little closer, pulling up a chair to her desk and sitting politely down (unlike his wife, who has displaced pens and papers). "Problems. Plural. It's too much area for us to cover effectively. The sniper nests all have blind spots of some sort, giving potential threats places to hide from Ruby. There's only so much you can do with three ground force huntsman patrolling, so many eyes... I know you'll have regular forces down there, as well, but… I have a bad feeling about this. There's too many ways for this to go wrong. I suggest we bring in a few more friends."

"Like who?"

"Whoever we can. Is CFVY still together? I've only had contact with Velvet, lately."

"They are much like team RWBY and JNPR. Broken up, but still in contact with each other. I got a call from Coco just a week ago for an opinion on which boots looked cuter. I don't know where Fox or Yatsuhashi are, however. Coco would likely know."

"I would suggest getting them. Particularly Yatsuhashi and Coco. We need heavy-hitters, just in case we get visitors that are stronger."

"Hopefully, it won't have to come to that. But, I see your point."

Nora, who had been kicking her feet in silence this whole time, glances at Weiss with a smile. "Yeah. If there's one thing Ren always says, it's 'get as many people watching your ass as possible'!"

"Nora, that's..."

"Hm~?"

"...exactly what I said. Good work." Ren finishes with a sigh, Nora giving an affectionate sound and slipping off the desk to wrap her arms around him. Afterward, the man looks back to Weiss with a serious expression. "Call who you can and I'll do the same. With an event as important as this one, it's mandatory to have as many people protecting it as possible."

"Agreed. I should be able to contact Coco today, if not tomorrow."

"Good. I'll call Jaune and Pyrrha to see if they can be spared. It's doubtful, but worth a shot."

"Sooo..." Nora suddenly says, tilting her head as she moves to sit herself right down on Ren's lap. The man doesn't say anything, seemingly content for his wife to use his lap as a chair. "How's everythin' on the guest front? Any luck with gettin' people on board?"

"It's… a mixed bag. There are many faunus who will be attending, including several from the tribes that still live in the wilds, but… some are afraid of retaliation. I don't blame them, but it certainly isn't going to help if they're missing. And, don't even get me started some of the human guests. I just hope they don't make trouble."

"Well, just remember that you have Nora Lie at your service! Anyone makes trouble, I'll break their legs!"

"I'm fairly certain you would be sued, by most of those types."

"I'll break their lawyer's legs, too! And, the lawyer's lawyer's legs!" Nora says with an exuberant grin that makes Weiss think Nora really WOULD enjoy breaking the legs of a few lawyers. "It's really simple. You have to go for the knee and get the leg all straight, then stomp right into that sucker! Boom! Broken leg! It's even better if you run up and dropkick 'em right in the knees! Wha-BAM! That takes care a' both of 'em. I also have a curb stomp option available, if you so choose~"

"Curb… stomp?"

"Yeah, it's when you put a dude's face-"

"Nora, I really doubt she wants to hear those particular details. I know that I certainly don't want to, right here." Ren says, his wife pouting at him a little for not letting her tell Weiss all about curb stomping. He simply raises an eyebrow, with her giving a disappointed 'aww, okay' in response. In return, he leans to give her a small kiss on the cheek. "You may tell all about it in the Halberd."

"Even the part with the teeth?"

"...Yes. Even the part with the teeth."

"Cool beans! Anyway, uh, I hope you can get all those people on board… Seems pretty hard, to me."

"It is quite taxing, yes."

"Is that why your secretary has so many boxes of tea on reserve out there?" Nora asks, tilting her head slightly as Weiss takes a sip of said tea.

"I… would imagine. Tea is very calming to me. She happens to know that."

"Cool! So, she knows you pretty well, huh?"

"She's my secretary. It's her job to know what I need and get it for me. She keeps track of calls and when people have requested meetings, as well as get me the papers I request. The tea happens to be a nice gesture." Weiss says, closing her eyes and taking another sip of her tea.

"I wish I had a secretary to get me stuff… Secretary! Make me a sandwich!"

"That's… not how it works, Nora."

"Darn."

Suddenly, Ashley bursts into the office. Weiss is about to yell at the girl before she sees how frightened she looks, concern instantly shooting to her features. She knows what's wrong before the young secretary says a single word… and she immediately fears the worst. She KNEW she shouldn't have gone out. "Ruby..."

She practically leaps over her desk, her eyes icy and furious in conjunction with her genuine concern. Ice crackles with every step, Nora's eyes widening as Weiss' semblance manifests itself. "Where is she being held? What hospital? What happened to my wife? WHAT HAPPENED?! Damn it, tell me!" The woman says in genuine fury, the secretary squeaking as she sees her approaching boss.

Ren silently observes, his eye slowly catching his wife's. She bore a similar look of concern, obviously just as surprised to see Weiss acting this way. She was definitely on edge about something, that much was clear.

"I-I..."

"Did I ask you to stutter? I said 'tell me'." Weiss demands, her skin becoming paler and shiny with small ice crystals. The look in her eyes is, quite frankly, more than a little terrifying, like a woman whose final nerve had finally snapped into pieces.

"Jeez, Weiss, ya really don't give me enough credit. Don't take it out on the secretary because I have to make a dramatic entrance..." Ruby's voice says, causing Weiss' head to immediately whip around. The moment she sees the bits of crusted blood on her wife's nose, she has instantly left the secretary to run up and hug her wife as tightly as she can. Ruby gasps quietly as Weiss comes into contact with her, the woman's body being absolutely frigid in temperature.

"You idiot! You big, stupid, IDIOT!" She says loudly, her face pressing into Ruby. The redhead feels wetness on her clothing, realizing that Weiss is… crying… "I thought something happened to you! I-I thought it was like last time, I was sure-"

"It… wasn't like that time, Weiss." Ruby says quietly, her arms wrapping around the smaller woman just as tightly. "I'm fine, but… There are some things we need to talk about. Things… may be worse than we feared. I met it. The one with the mask."

"You… You did?" Weiss asks, looking slowly up at Ruby with tears that have begun to freeze on her cheeks. The redhead slowly wipes them away, her own eye looking away slightly.

"Yeah. She… did something to me..." Ruby whispers, her tone slightly worried. "She had me on my knees. She was as fast as me, but more… She made my head funny. I just got so nauseous, like the whole area was spinning. I dunno."

The redhead looks past Weiss for a moment, spotting Ren and Nora at Weiss' desk. "Oh. Hey, you guys! What are… What are you doin' here? Didn't see you, there..."

"Oh, we're just here to try to convince Weiss to have a three-way with us." Nora answers before Ren can open his mouth, the man's eyebrow raising slowly. That was Nora's 'brushing off hard things with laughter' tone, something she often used to diffuse emotionally rough situations. He stays quiet, letting his wife continue. "But, she wants to stick to plain ol' vanilla. No Neapolitan ice cream for that chick! Heh, yeah… Well, it's getting late. Already dark! We should probably go, y'know? Still have stuff to do. Got a hunt in the morning. Weiss? That three-way offer is still on the table..."

Nora quirks her eyebrow a little, actually getting Weiss to smile a little and sniffle. "N-No, Nora, thank you."

"Your loss. Anyway, nice talkin'!" She says, slowly getting up and giving a clap of her hands. Ren follows along silently, Nora walking toward the door before stopping just at the frame. "And, guys?"

"Yes?"

"Be safe, alright? We're all here, if ya need us."

"Thank you, Nora."

Ruby knows that wasn't what they were really talking about, but does appreciate Nora letting them be alone. They certainly had quite a few things to discuss. She feared that Yang couldn't be left out of the loop, anymore. On the other hand, she was also scared that Yang might become part of it. Her emotions were a huge, tangled mess right now.

If only she could keep her sister out of it all.

* * *

Yang finds herself walking along a path, admiring the trees and flowers along the way. It really was a beautiful day, the birds chirping happily above her as they fly from branch to branch. She smiles and hums along with their calls, thinking to herself that Anna would absolutely love it here. She loved animal sounds. She just giggled and directed her head toward the different animals… She starts to slow down a little, her brow furrowing in confusion as those thoughts enter her mind.

Anna…

Where WAS Anna?

She looks around quickly, blinking a few times. "Anna? Anna, where are you?" She asks, starting to panic a little as she moves forward. Where was her daughter? She swore that she had just been there a second ago! How could she have become so distracted that she lost her?

"Anna!" Her voice calls out in a panicked yell, her quick pace picking up to a sprint. She's brushing her way past trees and bushes, now, lilac eyes frantically searching for the little head of blonde. "Anna, sweetheart, where are ya?!"

Her search is cut short when she sees an orange light off in the distance, growing brighter and brighter as the moments pass. The blonde shields her eyes from the fierceness of the light, gritting her teeth before beginning to move toward it. As she gets closer to the light, she begins to notice that destruction is littered all around the area. Trees are set ablaze, crackling with fire as branches fall to ignite the grass below. The leaves of bushes are catching fire when small embers drop from the burning trees. Her lilac eyes widen at the destruction, wondering who could have possibly done all this…

And, why?

She hears giggling, the sound exactly like… "Anna!"

She runs as fast as she can toward the sound of her daughter's voice, her breath coming out in pants as the light around her becomes more and more intense. It blasts around her, making her skin feel hot and her veins alight with activity. She finally stops as she sees a lone figure standing in the middle of the forest, not facing her. Long, blonde hair hangs down it's back, flowing with fiery energy. Her eyes begin to widen as the figure slowly turns around to face her… allowing her to come face to face with herself.

No. Not her…

Her face is twisted in rage, the lilac of her eyes gone and replaced with a deep red. Her chest is heaving with breath, a low growl coming out of her as red comes into contact with terrified lilac. She barely recognizes herself looking like this, the look in her eyes so far gone that she may never come back… Her semblance was activated through pain, powering her with energy to fight back… But, this... The pain she must have been in to have her semblance push her this far…

She looks like an animal.

This version of her growls again before screaming out in fury, the area around her shifting and changing as she covers her ears to block the horrible sound. She closes her eyes tightly, trying to block all of this out as best she can when… it becomes deathly silent.

Chancing her eyes open, she finds that the figure, itself, had gone. But, with shaking hands, she realizes that her heart is beginning to pump erratically. Her hands shake and she feels a familiar heat surging through her body, lighting every nerve on fire. She finds a growl coming from her lips, her shaking hands moving up to grip her own hair tightly. She can feel the power swelling up inside her, pushing her past her own limits…

She feels the red taking over her eyes, sending her vision into a haze. And, she screams. Louder than she ever has before. Over and over, this power welling up inside her being too much for her to handle. Why does it hurt so much, why does it hurt?

Off in the distance, a noise draws her reddened eyes. Her daughter, wailing in fear…

"Anna! Anna, where are you?! Anna!"

* * *

She is jolted awake with a loud scream, her heart beating a mile a minute and her skin slick with sweat. She frantically grabs for anything to hold herself down, suddenly feeling two arms wrap around her tightly. She screams again, struggling to get away from the hold. "Yang! Yang, calm down, it's me!"

"Blake?" She asks in a desperate, wheezy tone.

"Yes, it's me, Yang..." The faunus whispers, fingers gently stroking through the sweat-soaked locks of her girlfriend. "Yang, are you okay? You were tossing and turning… Must have… Must have been a hell of a nightmare."

"Fuck, you have no idea..." The blonde replies unsteadily, her hands shaking madly. "Fuckin' semblance dreams, Blake… I… I haven't… had those since I was a little girl."

Blake opens her mouth to reply, when Anna's shrill scream pierces the air. A loud, scared, unpleasant scream that makes Yang gasp quietly. Blake flinches a little, her ears pressing flatly to her skull. "Yang, I'm going to go take care of Anna. I promise, I'll be back and we can discuss this further. Are… Are you going to be okay?"

"Y-Yeah… Yeah, it was just a fuckin' dream, Blake. I'm a big girl; I can handle it." She replies, gently waving her girlfriend out of the room. Blake sends her one final look of concern through the darkness, her amber eyes lit up with worry, before quickly disappearing from the room. Yang slowly gets up, moving to the light switch and flicking it on. She still feels hot and uncomfortable, her hands refusing to stop shaking and her breaths refusing to come in with a proper amount of air. "Fuck this."

She slowly plods to the bathroom, lost in thought as she wracks her brain trying to think of a reason for that terrifying dream. She hadn't had those kinds of dreams in… so long. Since she was a child. When her semblance first began to manifest itself, she would be plagued with awful nightmares of losing control. But, she had long gotten over her fear of ever doing so. So, why would she be getting these now, at random?

And, what was with that… power? She had never felt that, when she was a kid. It had felt real. Like something was forcing her semblance to grow.

Had she gotten hurt before bed?

No… She had just worked out. Her muscles were kind of painful (particularly a lasting ache in her shoulder), but that wasn't enough to do this. At most, it would have given her eyes a very light red in color. That was out.

She shakes her head and shivers, running her hand down her sweaty face. "Splash a' water should help me cool down. Fuck… Just a dream, Xiao Long. Just a dream, that's what dad always used to say. Just a dream, calm down..." She murmurs to herself as she walks into the bathroom, moving to the sink and turning on the faucet.

She collects some water in her hands, raising her face up slightly…. Only to let the water fall out of her hands with a gasp.

Her eyes.

She can see in the mirror that her eyes are a deep, rich red, very nearly glowing in coloration.

She takes a few steps back, her breath becoming strained as she looks at herself in the mirror. This had never happened to her, when she was a kid. "This was no nightmare…"

What the fuck was it, then?

* * *

"That was a big risk you took, Beowolf. If Rose had figured you out, it would have put our mission in serious danger."

"Perhaps. But, the risk was worth it. I got into direct contact with Ruby Rose and placed shards of fear in her heart. She doesn't understand me. What I am, who I am, what I did to her… I feel invigorated. I had needed this for a while. I certainly feel faster..."

"Don't get too used to it."

"Yes, yes, I know. Whatever the risk, I have sped our plan along quite smoothly. Ruby is afraid, so who will she go to?"

"Her wife."

"Precisely. And, Schnee is a nutcase. If she reacts how I expect she will, all her attention will be on Ruby. After the way she got hurt, a year ago, there's no way she wouldn't. Now that Ruby thinks she's the one in danger, Schnee will leave all manner of openings for us to exploit… including what we seek the most. The pieces fall perfectly into place. We win the game." Beowolf pauses, glancing at her taller partner. "Speaking of which, how are things coming? Has Nevermore given an update?"

Ursa smirks under his mask. "She has."

"And?"

"We're ready. As well, the construction has gotten to the point that we can move in. We will be nearly finished by the time of the event."

"Excellent… Excellent. Get the troops ready. Tell them..." Beowolf looks down at the desk it sits at, dragging a nail slowly along the wood. "...to move out immediately. It's time to go to our new home."


	7. Chapter 7

**Right. I've been gone quite a long time, haven't I? :I ...I do apologize about that! A mixture of writer's block and busyness hit me for a while, but I think it'll be better, now. I should have the next chapter out MUCH sooner. Hopefully.**

**I, also, want to say that there will be no Winter Schnee in this, sadly (no matter how cool she looks). As, I learned of her after I had gotten too far into WITWOS to change it. So, yeah... Just saying, in case anyone was wondering that. 'Cus, I think she looks awesome.**

**Also, I've been updating at my Tumblr (mustachedmrblender), occasionally, and have gotten a few drawings regarding my stories on there now. Including one of Anna! Check it out, if that so interests you. I'd appreciate hearing what you thought!**

**Anyways, that's enough talking. Hears the next (very late) chapter!**

* * *

"It was scary, Blake… It was like I couldn't control my own body. All I could see was just… this rage. And, the power..." Yang slowly presses her head against a nearby cabinet, the cool structure doing little to counteract the hot flesh of her forehead. "In the dream, I could feel it flowin' off me in waves. I know how strong my semblance can get. But, that… That was pushin' it WAY beyond what I could handle. I'm actually pretty surprised I didn't start shootin' fire or somethin'."

Blake slowly bites her lip as she buckles Anna into her chair, glancing over at her girlfriend. While not technically 'fire', per say, Yang's semblance energy could be incredibly dangerous if not controlled. Unlike Ruby, whose energy was released in harmless petals, Yang's power was released in either heat or waves of fiery energy. Usually, it would manifest in her hair or on her hands.

So, you could understand why she'd want to keep that in control and not have it spewing all over.

"Well… Was there anything else in the dream that you can remember? You know they say that dreams sometimes mirror our fears and desires..."

"I… I remember that I was looking for Anna. She had just been next to me, but I lost her. And… And, right before that other version disappeared, I heard her crying. Hell, that just made it worse. If all that 'losing control' shit wasn't bad enough, I had to hear her crying along with it. It was terrible, Blake. Worst nightmare I've had in an awful long time."

"Well, maybe Anna has something to do with it. Maybe you're scared of losing her or doing something wrong? That's a common fear for mothers to have. Whatever the cause or reason for the dream, it's just that. A dream." Blake walks slowly over to where Yang is leaning, turning the blonde around to gently cup her face. She presses a few soft kisses her lips, smiling as she feels Yang relax a bit. "You're here, now. And, nothing's going to go wrong, okay? We're all okay."

"Yah!"

"Anna agrees." Blake says with a grin, casting her eyes back toward their child for a moment. Anna has her head facing toward them, her ears twitching in response to the small laugh that comes from her mother. She smiles, too, having been calmed down from her her prior crying quite a bit. "And, is likely pretty hungry."

Yang finally cracks a smile. "Yup, it never ends. Think I put some milk in that container in the fridge. Figured it was easier than puttin' it in ten thousand different bottles, right? Ugh, probably gonna have to use the pump again… Hell, I hate that thing." Yang grumbles, regarding her breasts with a sigh.

"Well, I know you hate that thing, but I think you'd end up hating it more if you didn't. It's a necessary thing for you to do. And, healthy."

"Okay, okay, don't give me the Weiss-style lecture. I get why I have to do it. Doesn't mean I can't complain that I have to do it. It's what I do." The blonde says with a shrug, Blake rolling her eyes a little before she glances at Yang leaning in toward Anna. "Right, Anna-Banana? Mama's earned some complaining time for her sore tits?"

She blows a raspberry.

"Well, I think that answered it. Point for Yang!"

"Oh, please. That raspberry was to show you how ridiculous you sound. And, don't say that in front of our daughter. I don't want her first word to be whatever nasty word you decide to say."

Yang gasps in mock offense, placing a hand on her chest. "That hurts me, Blake-y. I'm not the only one with a filthy mouth around here, Blake. You've said some pretty dirty things with poor Anna in the general vicinity."

"Oh?"

"I seem to recall a certain (incredibly sexy, mind you) lady calling me the 'Queen of Oral' with our daughter sitting right in my arms."

"About to. I seem to recall that a certain blonde cutting me off."

"I..."

"Exactly. Now, if that's your only argument?"

Yang pouts, opening her mouth to protest before her argument is cut off with the slapping of little hands on the tray of a high chair and a slightly annoyed 'Yah!' that turns the two parents' attention to their daughter. Anna is giving a pout very similar to her mother, her ears twitching slowly. Blake has to bite her lip to hold back her amusement when Yang turns back to look at her with a similar expression, the family resemblance undeniable.

"I'll get her milk ready." Blake finally manages to get out, unable to hold back the small snicker that slips out as she walks over to the refrigerator. She'd likely have to warm it up on the stove a bit before she gave it to Anna, however.

"Alright, babe." Yang says, turning her attention back to her daughter. She scoots her chair a little closer, placing her hands partially on the tray. "Hear that? Mama's gettin' ya somethin' good..."

Anna coos and reaches her little hands out toward Yang, who gently takes them in her own. The little faunus touches her hand to the skin, giggling a little at how warm Yang's hands are. She tilts her head as she watches her daughter feel around, her expression softening. "And, what got you so freaked out this morning, Anna? You were cryin' almost as bad as I was… What did it mean?"

The little girl doesn't offer anything in the way of answers, just continuing to touch.

"Yeah, I dunno, either."

Blake, having poured a little milk into a bottle and set it in some water being heated on the stove, walks slowly over to her girlfriend and child with a smile. She doesn't miss the slightly furrowed brow of Yang's face, her ears lowering to her head. She has to wonder if this dream came about from stress, with the way Yang's been going lately. Perhaps the best way to deal with this anxiety that Yang had of losing Anna from her sight was to nip it right in the bud. She gets an idea that will be enjoyable for quite a few.

"Yang..."

"What do ya want?" The blonde asks, directing lilac eyes into slightly startled amber.

"W-What?"

"Whenever ya say my name like that, it usually means somethin' is going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours." Yang says with a chuckle, causing Anna to giggle along with her. Blake has to say that the sound of the two laughing together was the sort of thing that melted hearts into all kinds mush. "So, what's happenin'?"

Blake has to shake off the blush that rapidly finds it's way to her cheeks at how easily Yang had her scouted, making a mental note to check her voice the next time she wanted to have this kind of talk. Yang being aware of what she was doing at any particular time ruined her element of surprise. And, she could do a great many things with an element of surprise…

"I was thinking that we could take a night to go out for dinner..." Blake says gently, her tail swaying gently behind her. "Perhaps we could leave Anna in the care of her aunts? You know how Ruby's been wanting to..."

She can see Yang noticeably stiffen at the question, her eyes widely looking back to her girlfriend. "What? We can't do that, Blake, what if..."

"Yang, I think it would do you some good… I'm not talking about a whole day. Just a few hours at a nice restaurant." Blake replies, moving closer and placing a gentle hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Besides, I think you know how much Ruby would like to spend some time with her niece. She really seems to get Anna as well as we do. Just a little bit? I think it would really ease some of the stress you've been feeling."

"I… I'm not stressed." The blonde answers back, busying herself with her daughter's hands. Anna seemed to enjoy the gesture, smiling as she patted her fingertips along Yang's calloused knuckles. "I just had a bad dream, okay? Doesn't mean I need a break to hop out of bein' her mom. I can handle it, Blake."

The voice is more bitter than Blake expects, a slim eyebrow raising. "Yang… I'm not asking you to leave her selfishly. I'm asking that you leave her in the care of your sister, who loves her to death, and take just a few hours to clear your head. You don't have to feel bad for doing that… Everyone needs a little time to themselves, every now and again."

Yang clearly doesn't look all the way convinced. But, she lets out a small sigh and rubs the back of her neck. "Ya really think that would be a good idea?"

"I do."

"Well… I suppose I can't argue that it'd be nice. Do ya think that Ruby an' Weiss'll be too busy to watch her? Ya know how hard Weiss has been workin' on that White Fang event."

"I'm sure Weiss will subtly drop everything she's doing to spoil her. I expect that she will come home with far more toys than she arrives with. Ruby will likely squeal right into the phone the moment you tell her..." Blake replies with a smirk, Yang (despite her worries) unable to not crack a smirk.

"She DOES love kids…"

"I'll go make the call. We'll need to give them time to prepare, after all."

* * *

"Can you wait, Weiss? Can you WAIT?" Ruby squeals excitedly, practically jumping up and down near the other woman as she checks over what they have. Blake had called over to ask if they could watch over Anna for just a few hours, as Yang had apparently been having a rather rough time of it. She didn't explain too much about what exactly was wrong with Yang, but Weiss assumed that it was quite a private thing they needed to talk about.

Ruby had been over the moon ever since that call, more than ready to spend a few hours with her niece.

Things had been quiet since Ruby's encounter, leading both of them to still be wary of what could be happening. Weiss had been running around and sending her assets against every lead on the mysterious figure that she could find. Anderson and Jennings had been working quite hard to narrow down anything that could get from those petals, as well as much study into what exactly could have drained Ruby so quickly in terms of the battle…

Weiss was determined to make sure it never happened again. She needed to do what she did best… Learn. It was always what she had done best, from Beacon Academy to her stint as a full-time huntress. She was always the best at picking up on things that she could study more closely. She had, in fact, picked up a pattern of sorts in putting together all the pieces of information she had learned from when Ruby sighted this Grim-inspired stalker.

They only appeared when Ruby was alone.

Far-fetched? Weiss didn't think so. The first time this person had been seen, it was on a solo hunt that Ruby had gone on. The second, in a hospital… where only Ruby had really caught a good glance at her. It had only been trying to get Ruby's attention. And, the most recent? Ruby had been on a walk, which it took advantage of to… do whatever it had done to her wife.

Weiss' solution? Never let Ruby be alone. Brilliant.

Ruby, however, was less appreciative of Weiss being around her all the time. She had requested that Ruby come with her to work, followed her around the house, and even waited outside the bathroom for Ruby to finish. It's not as if Ruby didn't love her wife to death, but all this was just a tad smothering to the huntress.

When she had expressed this, Weiss had sighed quietly and assured her that this would be over once this stalker was caught. Until then, she would feel more comfortable if she could have Ruby's back. With the amount they had been through together, a single person would have to be crazy to attack with them both so close.

There hadn't been a peep from this person since, so Weiss was reasonably certain that she had scared them off for the time being.

She knew this was trying for Ruby, so she had agreed the moment that Blake had called to ask if they could watch Anna… despite certain apprehensions at the idea. She had held the child, before, and loved the little girl quite dearly. But, she was still slightly nervous around children, not quite knowing exactly how to read them.

Not like Ruby, anyway, who could likely read a child's mind to sense their hopes and dreams.

Anna was an exception in that she would at least try her best to put her worries away, though still needed a lot of help from Ruby. Weirdly, Ruby seemed to be putting a great deal of effort into getting her more comfortable around the small girl. Especially into holding her and interacting…

That look Ruby had given her when the redhead had been holding Anna still gave her shivers and a funny feeling whenever she thought of it. She wasn't sure what exactly she was supposed to be feeling whenever it came about.

Whatever her feelings, though, she had to admit that the arrival of their niece was a pleasant breeze of fresh air to look forward to. And, with Ruby being as excited as she was, it was hard not to feel a little rush of excitement into her, too.

"I suppose I can't." Weiss says gently, typing a few things on her laptop as she sits at the desk and glances at Ruby from behind her reading glasses. "I just hope we got enough to take care of her needs..."

"Weiss, we got her more than enough! We should get 'em all to stay over, sometime! Especially with the new renovations we made, right?"

"It certainly took long enough for the house to begin looking like it hadn't been suddenly hit by a tornado, that's for sure. The new rooms we added were a happy coincidence." Weiss says, slowly glancing down to her work once more. She wanted to finish this up so that she would be completely free for the evening. Just a few messages to more people about the faunus event, rinse and repeat, to see if any more persons of influence would consider it. She was gaining a good amount of people considering it, so that was an encouraging sign.

The representatives of the various faunus tribes would be arriving in Vale from various points of Remnant in a few week's time, staying in rather nice lodgings courtesy of Rose Dust. While, perhaps, not exactly coming to gain rights for those faunus born in human society specifically, they WERE coming to call for the rights of faunus everywhere.

Especially in that governments of the kingdoms did little to stave hungry businesses off from the few lands that faunus tribes still held. Her call to action would seek to change that, thus making her very favorable amongst them. Juggling the different tribes was certainly tricky.

The deer tribes didn't like the cat tribes, nor the wolf tribes, to which the latter had little love either. But, it seemed that the threat of encroaching territory disputes was letting them begrudgingly work together.

"You okay, Weiss?"

"Mm?"

"Your eyes are doing that crinkle thing that they always do when you're stressing about something. It's harder to see with your glasses on, but I know what to look for..." Ruby says, walking slowly up to Weiss' desk and hopping up up onto it. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Oh, no more than usual. Juggling prejudices, bigotry, sweeping change, begrudging tribes of faunus…" The pale woman says before sighing and rubbing her temple. "I swear, this is what's going to turn me grey. I know I'm young, but I feel like I've lived a hundred years, sometimes."

"Well, we've been through a lot, right? With Cinder, with the Grimm… With everything. Some day we're gonna have a lot of stories to tell all the young people."

"I think they would very much like to hear your stories, Ruby… Particularly the Noodle Incident-"

"Weeeiss! Goddd… Are you EVER gonna let that go?" Ruby whines, a pout coming to her face when she sees the smirk coming to Weiss' face. It's nice to see her making an expression other then 'stressed beyond belief', but still…

"Never. The expression you give me in response to me talking about it is far too cute to give up. And, I do so enjoy watching it. So, no, I think not." Weiss says with a chuckle, looking back down and typing out a few more things as Ruby continues to pout at her.

Ruby looks down at her wife for a moment, pout still firmly on her face. "You can be so evil, sometimes..."

"I do my very best, of course." She replies, her eyes rising up on slightly to look at her pouting wife. "I do so like to see that cute pout you get on your face."

"Evil!"

Weiss keeps her eyes up, gazing up into Ruby's and keeping them held there long enough to bring a blush to her face. Ruby, eventually, has to look away before her face turns into a molten inferno. Well, more than it already was, at least. When Weiss is pleased enough, she finally glances back down to her work. "Those three should be here any time, now."

"I hope so! I can't wait to see Anna again!" Ruby is finally able to say after gaining control of her flush, a grin coming to her lips. "Plus, she really seems to like you! Probably 'cus your hair's all soft an' stuff, y'know? She likes soft things."

"Mm. I noticed that, the last time I held her. I seem to recall you all but shoving her into my hands."

"Well, I wanted you to see how cute she was! Plus, she's your niece… so ya got to learn how to hold her, right? Babies aren't all bad..." Ruby says, the last part being uttered in a slightly more quiet tone. It causes Weiss to look up at her wife, a slim eyebrow being raised upward.

"Are you alright, Ruby?"

"Yeah! I'm fine!" The redhead replies, waving off the question with quick gestures of her hand.

Weiss' eyebrow raises further and she sits up a little straighter in her chair, a position that Ruby often calls the 'business' stance. It's something Weiss does when she thinks Ruby isn't being all the way forward with something. "Are you sure? You're acting very… odd."

"Oh, just excited! Yang and Blake are leaving Anna with us and going on a nice dinner! What's not to be excited about?" She says quickly, Weiss opening her mouth to say something else before the sound of the doorbell rings out in the house. "Oh! That's them! C'mon, let's go!"

With that, she bolts out of the room and leaves Weiss to wonder. She would have to remember to inquire further about that, later. Ruby very often had loose lips, particularly when Weiss was involved. Not wanting to miss the arrival, she quickly stands up from her chair (deciding that the paperwork can wait for a little) and follows the path of semblance petals to the front door. Ruby has already let Yang and Blake in (both wearing quite beautiful dresses for the occasion of their date), all talking with smiles and laughs that bring a pleasant settling of happiness on her heart. Quite a rare commodity, with all that's been stressing her out as of late. She notes, however, that Yang looks a great deal more tired than she usually does.

A light smudge of muted purple under her eyes signals a lack of sleep, the bags making Yang look a great deal… older. Blake has the same, but much less defined than Yang. Perhaps Blake was right in her observation that Yang needed just a bit of a break away.

As, in the words of the very blonde in question, she looked like utter shit.

Anna is looking in the direction of Ruby's cheerful voice, giving a few happy gurgles in response and reaching out toward the huntress' face with a smile. Yang snorts, giving the girl's head a gentle rub that causes her to purr happily. "Easy, there, kiddo. You'll have plenty of time to re-arrange aunt Ruby's face, when we leave. Beat her up real good, 'kay? She could really use it-"

"Hey! Just what're you trying to get her to do to her poor aunt?"

"Rats! Foiled, again!"

Yang laughs, but it's a somewhat hoarse and very drained sound. Very peculiar, in Weiss' eyes. She thinks she'll just leave deciphering her to Blake.

"Oh, hey, Weiss! Yeesh, you're really quiet. I didn't even see you come in!"

"Well, in the face of how noisy my wife is when she tromps all around the house, I have to be considerably more quiet in my steps than her." Weiss answers back, causing Ruby to pout and Yang to laugh. Blake smiles when Yang laughs, looking between the two sisters and shaking her head.

"Well, Ruby DOES love her tromping..."

"Hey…!"

"Why don't you two come inside? I was thinking a break for tea would be good for me, anyway."

"Can't really, sorry… Blake got reservations, but they're kinda at a time that's a lil' weird. Last space they had! So, um..." Yang shifts her hip when Anna begins to fuss, smiling sheepishly as she moves her over to the other one. "Likes to move around, the lil' stinker. You girls are gonna have your hands full with this one."

"We'll be fine, Yang!" Ruby says with a smile, Yang giving a smile that still seems a bit nervous. "Just watch, she'll be all like 'Momma, it's so fun here that I don't wanna go home'!"

"Oh, will she? I think you're forgetting that the biggest word she's ever used is 'dah!'…" Yang chuckles, Anna's ears twitching as she smiles at her mother's laughing. "Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine… Just… If ya need anything at all… ANYTHING… Just call my scroll. She already ate, so she shouldn't be hungry. Um… Shouldn't be. I packed a bottle for her in case she is later; ya just have to warm it up. Oh, and I changed her diaper so you don't have to. Uh, if she DOES manage to soil it, I packed a few spare diapers in the bag. Y'know. For emergencies. Oh, and her bear and squid are in there, too."

"Her… squid?"

"Yeah! It's this little stuffed squid Blake got her. She likes laying her face on it."

Weiss turns to Blake with a raised eyebrow, tilting her head inquisitively. "Why did you get your daughter a squid? I mean, a little teddy bear I can see, but… A squid? Why?"

"I just saw it in a shop, one day, and thought it was cute." Blake replies as her lips give the subtle curl of a smile. "And, Anna loves it to death, so I would say she thinks so, too. It doesn't hurt that it's made of some pretty soft fabric. Don't worry, Weiss, her other favorite is one of the bears you bought her in that mad shopping spree you did all those months ago… Your pride is restored." Blake adds with a smirk, causing Weiss to release an indignant huff and cross her arms.

"It wasn't THAT much. Just the necessities!"

"A clerk nearly having a heart attack at the amount of stuff they had to scan is not the necessities, Weiss."

"Oh, that is not even CLOSE to true!"

Ruby coughs quietly into her hand. "It… It was kinda a lot, honey. I mean, the clerk DID pass out for a little..."

The pale woman gives a look full of utter betrayal back to her wife, Ruby wincing as Yang snorts in laughter. The blonde hoists Anna up into her arms slowly, walking closer to her sister and handing the baby off. "Alright, so just a few things to know… Don't move her too fast, she hates that."

"Gotcha."

"M'kay, and 'dah' means she wants something and you're not doing it fast enough."

"Just like you!"

"Alright, ya lil' shit, just one more thing."

"Of course!"

"She doesn't mind loud noises, but only when she knows that they're coming. Sudden ones will spook her and it'll take you an hour or two to calm her down… Trust me, I know."

"No problem."

"You realize I trust you completely and am just being all paranoid about her first time away?"

"Yeah, I get it. Don't worry about a thing, Yang! You two just have a good night, 'kay?" Ruby says, giving Anna a little bounce that causes the child to giggle. "We'll be fine!"

Weiss nods in agreement. "Indeed. We are more than capable of handling a baby. Now, you two should go before they give away your reservations."

* * *

"Alright, Anna, you're in a whole new house! Whatcha think about that?" Ruby asks as she carries the girl through the house, giving a little hum as Weiss follows along behind her… albeit, very carefully. Anna babbles a little to the redhead's question, reaching her hands up to mess with her hair. That certainly brings a big smile to her face. "Aww, you're doin' fine!"

"Perhaps we should take her the guest room. That's where we're keeping all her things, if I'm recalling correctly."

"Yeah, totally! Let's go~!"

As Weiss looks toward Ruby, she gets that funny feeling in her heart again. That odd, heartbeat ravaging feeling that makes Ruby seem to slow down, a hyper-aware Weiss glancing at all the little subtleties of her wife as she walks down the hallway. Ruby's smile is definitely bigger than usual (though, Ruby loved her niece to death, so that one wasn't all that surprising), but there is a subtle glittering in her eyes that draws Weiss immediately to them.

She didn't know what exactly to do with this feeling that was being stirred up inside her, but she very much wishes it wouldn't come about so quickly. It leaves her flustered and unable to speak properly for at least a minute, afterward. And, for someone like Weiss? That was very disorienting.

As they reach the room, a sudden ringing goes out through the house. They both jump more than a little, Anna whining a bit before starting to sniffle. Their eyes widen, almost trying to will the child not to cry with their minds.

Until she begins an absolutely heartbreaking bout of wailing, panicking Weiss to the extreme.

"Oh, no, she's crying! What do we do? What's wrong with her-"

"Weiss, relax… That noise scared her. But, unlike us, she's just a baby. How was she supposed to know that was just a phone an' not a big, scary monster or something? I know I was spooked by a lot of things, when I was little… Aw… It's alright, Anna..." Ruby glances back to Weiss for a moment, giving her a little smile. "Can you go answer that? I'll see if I can calm her down a little."

Weiss nods slowly, keeping an anxious expression on her face as she leaves the room. Who could possibly be calling this late? She swears, if it's something stupid and it caused Anna to cry… she's going to have a few choice words with the person on the other end.

She reaches the phone and picks it up, letting out an exasperated 'hello?' to the person on the other end.

"Hey, Weiss! It's Jaune."

"Jaune? What is it? Why are you calling?" Weiss asks, running a hand through her hair. "We're in the middle of something, here."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know… Um..."

"Just, out with it, please."

"Right! I just had something I wanted to talk to Ruby about is all. There's something that we need her for..." Jaune says with a sheepish laugh, one that Weiss can easily picture (along with that 'scratching the back of his neck' thing he always seems to do). "Is she right there, handy?"

His voice is calm, yet there is a slight tone of insistence that makes her eyebrows raise.

"...Yes, she is. Hold on."

Weiss wonders vaguely what Jaune wants to talk to her wife about. She didn't know what it could possibly be about, nor why it it would need to be talked about at this time of day. Perhaps something to do with her huntress duties? Is there any news that absolutely NEEDS to be delivered at night, save for emergencies?

Not that she didn't like Jaune, but still…

Upon walking back into the guest room she had left Ruby in, she is immediately greeted by the sight of Anna and Ruby sitting on the floor in such a nonchalant manner that it looks as if they're having a conversation about the most unimportant of things. The little faunus is seated on Ruby's lap, blonde hair standing out brightly against the red of Ruby's sweatshirt as she babbles and reaches her hands out for Ruby's.

The redhead is giggling, patting their hands together every now and again to draw a laugh from the little one. She glances up when she sees Weiss enter the room, the pure happiness and joy in her smile bringing a flush to Weiss' face.

"Anything important?"

"A-Actually, Jaune wanted to talk to you about something?"

"Hm? Wonder what he's got in mind… Hey, could you watch Anna for just a sec while I see what it is?" Ruby asks, getting up more slowly than she normally would (her normal being hop up quickly or don't get up at all) and walking toward Weiss to present her the gurgling child.

"Ruby, I don't know about this..."

"Hey… You'll be fine, okay? It's not that hard. Just talk to her and let her know you're there! She's such an easy baby!"

"Oh… kay..."

Ruby smiles that darling smile of hers as she hands Anna off to Weiss and bolts out of the room. "Back in a bit!"

Weiss glances at the girl in her arms, seeming uninterested and looking off in a random direction, biting her lips anxiously before slowly seating herself on the floor where Ruby had been sitting. She really hopes that Ruby doesn't take too long. She doesn't know what to do with a child all on her own, nor how to keep one entertained.. particularly one that couldn't see what she was doing.

At least Yang had changed her diaper before bringing here. As, there was NO WAY she was going to be changing diapers in any way, shape, or form. The very idea makes her nose wrinkle in displeasure.

No. Way.

"Well… It looks like me and you are going to be spending a few moments together. *Ahem* You had best behave yourself. I'm not as easygoing as your aunt Ruby." She says in a polite tone, Anna's face following her voice until her milky eyes stare right through Weiss' head. She has to admit that it's more than a little unsettling to talk to someone when their eyes don't focus on anything in particular, her slight phobia of children just… staring at her certainly don't help matters.

Calm down, Weiss. It's just a child. There is, quite literally, nothing that a child could possibly do to you. Besides unsettle you with how wide their eyes are, remind you how startling they are when they suddenly cry out… Hm. Thinking about this isn't really helping.

"Wah."

This simple word brings her attention back downward to Anna, who has started to lightly smack her hands at Weiss'. She purses her lips, remembering what Ruby had been doing with the child when she walked in. "My… hands?"

"_Wah_." The blonde says again, this time a bit more insistently as she gives another little smack to pale hands. Her head tilts up into Weiss' general direction, giving a pout that is so, undeniably, Yang that she can't suppress a chuckle.

"Alright, I think I understand..."

She gives a few pats to the girl's small hands, earning a giggle for her efforts. She has no idea if this was supposed to be some sort of game or merely an enjoyable way for Anna to interact with the people in her life, but she admits that it is rather cute. Giggling is much better than any amount of crying.

Judging by the fact that she responds so quickly and intently to the movements her hands make, Weiss believes she has done this many times before. Possibly with Yang and Blake, which Ruby (and, now, Weiss) had picked up. She gazes downward and gives a small smile.

"You're a lucky child, you know..." She murmurs, another series of returning pats by Anna making the small girl giggle again. "So many people around you that want nothing more than to make you happy… That's the way it needs to be."

The scar next to her heart gives a dull throbbing, as if to remind her about what her own childhood inevitably led to.

"The way it should be."

As if picking up on the rather somber tone her voice, Anna looks toward Weiss and coos out that simple word once more. "Wah..."

Weiss smiles a little and moves a gentle hand to rub between the girl's blonde ears, a small purr slipping out in response. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. A lot of stressful things on my mind these days, I suppose… Thankfully, your visit is making things a little less stressful. Ruby is getting a little annoyed that I'm following her around, everywhere… But, what choice do I have? I don't want her to get hurt agai-"

She stops and blinks a few times.

"And, I'm now talking about my life problems to a baby. I truly must be stressed."

Anna doesn't change her head's direction, though she does give a small smile in response. There's something special about this child, for her to actually start rambling about her own problems to her. This is… nice for her. Maybe, she could get used to having this kid around... Though, the smile soon turns to a strained pout, causing Weiss' eyebrow to slowly raise.

"What on earth are you making that face for? That's not a very nice… Oh. Oh, no, don't you dare do this to me. Anna, I swear!"

* * *

Yang gives a smile over to Blake as they stroll down the sidewalk, hands held closely together. "Y'know, this is really nice. Glad you decided to get me to do it. Feels like forever since we've had some time to ourselves."

"See? It's good to be able to get out every once in a while. I think you were getting a bit of cabin fever, being cooped up like you were."

We don't have a cabin, Blake. What do ya think we are, rich as Weiss?" Yang says with a snicker, her shoulders shaking a bit with every laugh. "I mean, she's got a whole big-ass mansion in the rich-people area."

"You know what I mean, Yang. And, she doesn't even use that."

Yang winces a little after Blake says that and nods. "Yeeaah… It's kinda abandoned, now. Creepy. Still has the police tape around the doors, if I'm rememberin' right."

"I think you're right…" The faunus replies with a shiver, squeezing Yang's hand a little tighter. "Let's stop talking about this. I think I know why Weiss doesn't want anything to do with it, now. Besides, we still have to get to the restaurant before our reservation gets given to a couple more on time."

"That'd be just our luck, though, wouldn't it?"

They increase their pace, though still keep their hands tightly clasped together. It doesn't take them long to get down to where the restaurant, crossing the street leading to it after a few minutes of fast-walking silence. It's lucky that they get there when they do, as fat droplets of rain have begun to fall by the time they get to the door. Blake gives a huff befitting of Weiss and directs her eyes back out as rain patters on the sidewalk, Yang laughing and leaning in to kiss her cheek.

"Just our luck..." She says with a snicker, crossing her arms across her chest. "Maybe it'll let up by the time we get out?"

"It better." Blake replies with a small frown. "I'd rather not be soaked, by the time we get back."

"Isn't that how you are after every date with me, though~?"

Amber eyes slip over to meet sparkling lilac, the suave facial expression that follows making Blake bite her lip a little. "That was the most original joke I've ever heard you use, for sure. Did you make that one up, yourself? That was really clever."

She makes sure that Yang doesn't miss an ounce of her sarcasm.

"Aw, you know you like it."

"Yes, but you have it all mixed around, don't you?"

"Huh?"

Blake leans in as they open the door, giving a little nip to Yang's ear. "I'm not the one who's soaked." She whispers with a smirk, walking inside and leaving Yang staring at her with wide eyes.

Before she got with Blake all those years ago, she thought herself the absolute master of seduction. She soon learned that she was SO, very wrong in that idea. Because, the kinds of things that Blake could stir up with just that little whisper was absolutely amazing. She has to struggle to keep her eyes even as Blake walks into the waiting area, fanning herself with her hand.

And, suddenly a cold, rainy night was too hot.

"Looks like we got here on time." Blake observes, seeing the little group of people waiting for their reservation to be called. "They haven't called ours, yet. I'm going to go tell them we're here."

"Kay. Don't be too long. I might get all lonely, here in this dress by myself~" She says, leaning over to plant a kiss on Blake's lips and earning a sly look in response.

"I'll be sure to. We can't have you doing that, can we?"

Her girlfriend walks off to go tell the man calling out the reservations her number, as well as who they were. And, it's really hard to NOT watch how her hips sway. To distract herself, she brushes off her dress a little. She had decided to be a little bolder, tonight, wearing a purple dress with a high cut up the leg (maybe in some ploy to show off a good amount of tanned skin to her girlfriend, though Blake was proving to be more subtle in her glances than Yang).

It was a little risque for the restaurant they were eating at, but, dammit, she wanted to wear a sexy dress for Blake. She was used to getting stared at, anyway.

Feeling that exact feeling, now, she glances back and finds a couple staring at her quite intently. Their faces are unreadable, so she merely assumes she's getting stared at for her looks. "Eyes are up here, guys. Thanks for the compliment, though. When I got up today, my first thought was 'I reeeally need someone starin' at my boobs, today! I hope my wish comes true!'. So, thanks."

The couple give her a dirty look, faces screwing up in an obvious expression of… distaste? Well, Yang certainly wasn't used to that. She still had a few traces of baby weight in some places, but c'mon… That's hardly a reason for dirty looks. It's only when Blake returns that she realizes the reason for their staring, as the sourness of their expressions greatly increases. Oh, is THAT the reason? Well, then…

"He said that our table should be ready, soon. He apologized for the wai- mph!" Nearly as soon as she takes the blonde's side, Yang has spun around to take Blake's face in her hands and press their lips together in a searing kiss. Her cheeks take a surprised flush and she kisses back a little, stumbling for words when Yang pulls back with a grin.

"I… Wow, that… W-Where did that come from?"

"I love ya. You know that, right?" Yang asks, arms slipping down to wrap her girlfriend in a tight hug.

"Yes, of course."

"Then, that's all that really matters, yeah? Besides, you're so fun to surprise with kisses. I mean… You're fun to surprise with other things, too, but half of them I can't do in a public area."

"That's never stopped you, before, Yang. Losing your edge?"

"Oh, I'm sure that dress will end up crumpled on the floor sometime in the night… And, the Queen will be ruling her kingdom~"

Blake shakes her head and gives Yang a little shove, her tail swishing behind her happily. "While her subjects roll their eyes and wonder what's taking her majesty so long to get to the point."

"Her majesty takes as long as she wants to get to the point. And, her subjects never end up complaining." The blonde laughs, directing her head toward the door in a vague glance when she hears it open. A wide smile comes to her face when she sees who it is, causing an immediate wave of her hand.

"Coco! Velvet! Long time, no see!" She calls out, gaining the (soaked) pair's attention.

Coco walks up to them with a smile, brushing water droplets from her coat as best she can. Velvet has it worse, her poor ears drooping with the weight of wet fur (which she seems to be actively trying reverse). She quietly follows Coco's confident stride, giving a small wave to them both when they reach them.

"Fancy meeting you, here, Xiao Long. And, of course, the lovely Miss Belladonna." The brunette says, giving a chivalrous bow that makes Yang snort with laughter. She adjusts her shades, tilting her head a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, having dinner, obviously."

"Your trademark wit is as sharp as ever, Belladonna. I suppose I set myself up for that one, eh?" The older woman laughs, crossing her arms over her chest. "I meant that I thought you had prior obligations… unless the little rascal is hidden somewhere in Yang's boobs."

"Ruby and Weiss are watching Anna tonight. We thought we'd take a few hours to have a nice dinner, here. I've heard good things about it." Blake replies, shaking her head in amusement as Yang begins laughing fully.

"Same here. Apparently, they've got specials that are to die for. Velvs found the place and I thought I'd treat her out." Coco says with a happy smile, looking over to Velvet (who is still trying to dry out her ears). "I wish it had been under better weather, but what can you do? You okay, sweets?"

Velvet groans, stroking her wet ears with a small frown. "I-I swear, sometimes I can't do a single thing with them. The rain comes and ruins everything."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I have the same problem with my tail."

Blake and Velvet begin talking amongst themselves about their mutual dislike of rain, Yang glancing over to where she had seen that glaring couple earlier. She catches them as they get up from where they had been sitting to leave the restaurant, hearing Coco release an annoyed grunt next to her.

"So, you noticed 'em, too, huh?"

Coco's shades slip down enough for Yang to see the purple of her eyes, looking rather fierce as she watches along. "What, the stifling racism? The day I see all the people like that get theirs can't come soon enough. They look like they're about to throw up if a faunus comes within five feet of them. And, heaven forbid a faunus having a relationship with a human. Because, apparently that's the greatest offense ever. Makes me want to clock them one."

"With that bigass handbag you call a weapon?"

"No, actually with my fist. Much more personal."

"I like the sound of that, actually. Mind a double-team? I can put 'em in a headlock and you punch their gut."

"Should I feel bad that I really want to do that, sometimes? I mean, most people are getting better, but every so often you meet a rude son of a bitch… Worst part is that Velvs is all cool about it; humble despite her doing nothing to deserve that. At least she doesn't get all of it, though."

"What do you mean?"

"People go after me, too, y'know. Saying I'm 'into bestiality, apparently'. Or, asking if we both fuck like rabbits." Coco says, clenching her fist. "I didn't care, that time. I knocked that bitch on her ass. Talk about my girl like that and you get punched. What's wrong with those idiots? We're all just people..."

"Ya got me, there." Yang says with a shrug, shaking her head. "I'm just waitin' for the day that the 'humans only' signs on any shop that has them come down. Hopefully, Weiss' event will help put faunus rights on track. I want my daughter to grow up in a world where she has as many rights as anybody does."

"Yeah, she contacted me to help guard that. I'd like to see someone try to wreck that." She sighs, slipping her hat off to run a hand through her hair. "How have people been treating you guys? I know it's hard enough to have a relationship, but adding a baby complicates things. On both sides."

_She feels the red taking over her eyes, sending her vision into a haze. And, she screams. Louder than she ever has before._

_Why does it hurt so much, why does it hurt? _

"_Anna! Anna, where are you?! Anna!"_

"It... hasn't been bad." Yang answers, giving a few slow blinks. "We stay out of the public eye, for the most part. Even if I heard people criticizing my decision, I wouldn't care. My life, not theirs. Anna and Blake make me happy. Rest of the world can go screw itself, for all I care."

"Well, aren't you a shining example cross-race relationships?"

"I try."

Coco brushes off her hat before placing it back onto her head. "I don't think you guys know how much of an impact you have on faunus-human couples. I've seen more out, since you two had the baby. They're walking with pride. They're taking a stand because of you."

"That's… terrifying."

"Hm?"

"Me? The inspiration of a whole group of people? Their courage riding on my decisions? I'm just a woman who loves her family, not someone who goes up to stages to give grand speeches."

"I think that's the reason for it, Yang. You're taking a stand simply by doing it. It's an ideal that people can latch on to. Plus, it doesn't hurt that you're a famous huntress." She pauses for a moment, tapping a finger on her lip. "Well, we sure got heavy, there, didn't we?"

"Seems to be the tone everyone takes, nowadays."

She looks over to find that Velvet and Blake have finished talking, now walking up to her and Coco. Blake is the first to speak. "Yang, I think I heard them calling our number. We should get moving."

Yang nods with a smile, looking back over to Coco. "Nice meetin' you guys again. You should come up, sometime. Anna'd sure love to meet you."

"I think she'd love to meet Yatsuhashi more. He's like a saint with kids. But, yeah… I think I'd like that." She says as Velvet moves back to Coco's side. "Enjoy your dinner, you two."

* * *

"But… that doesn't make sense, Jaune… A whole town, overnight?" Ruby says into the phone, leaning her other hand forward on Weiss' desk. Various blueprints and plans gaze back at her, hand slowly moving to absently shift through them. They make crinkly sounds, as if they were Weiss, herself, scolding Ruby against removing them from their neat order. "What would we even do about it, anyway?"

"I don't exactly know. But, the supervisor of the town is reaching out to more than a few well-known huntsman and huntresses. If I had to guess… maybe Grimm are involved?"

"Ya think so?"

"I… don't know. They haven't really told us anything. Just a subtle suggestion that the town is in quarantine. And, by subtle, I mean REALLY subtle. This is as hush-hush as I've ever seen it get. They'll probably tell us more on the way there. They didn't want to start hysteria, I guess. But, if they 're involved… it's our duty to take care of it." Jaune says in a quiet, serious tone. "I know that they'd be happy if you could lend a hand. You're one of the best huntresses in this generation."

"You sure know how to flatter a lady, Jaune~"

"Excuse me? Is this Yang? I thought I was talking to Ruby..."

"Aw, shuddup. Yeah. I'll think about it. Weiss… er… might come along, too, I imagine."

"More the merrier, I always say."

"Even that one thing Nora suggested you and Pyrrha do?"

"…Except that. That's a special case."

"I can't really give you an answer tonight. Me an' Weiss are takin' care of Anna for Yang and Blake, but I'll talk about it with her tomorrow and have an answer for you soon." Ruby says, sighing a little. Weiss was already stressed out and spread WAY too thin across her various projects… But, she had the gut feeling that she wasn't going anywhere alone until her little stalker problem was solved. "That okay?"

"Yeah, Ruby, it's fine. I get it." Jaune replies, likely smiling through his words. "We've all got things we need to do. Just get back to me, if you can."

"Will do. Talk to ya soon, Jaune." She says, hanging up after Jaune says his goodbyes and running a hand through her hair. "Man, the world just keeps tryin' to top it's weirdness, doesn't it? Well… Weiss is in a good mood, right now. Don't want to spoil it. Tonight, at least. Oop! I forgot she was waitin' for me!"

She speeds out of the office and back toward the guest room, smiling as she opens the door… to see a frowning Weiss. "Hey, Weiss… Call's finished and, um… are you okay?"

Weiss holds up a pretty thoroughly used diaper in her petite hand, her frown deepening as her nose crinkles upward and her icy eyes give a few twitches. It'd be pretty adorable, if Ruby didn't know Weiss was annoyed. "Yang is an absolute liar. I said no diapers, Ruby."

"Oh. Uh..."

"Never. Again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go dispose of this. And, then wash my hands several dozen times. Perhaps, replace the garbage can, as well." Weiss replies with a shudder, walking quickly past her wife and comically holding the diaper as far away from her as she could.

Ruby glances over to where Anna is, the girl's tail swishing happily. Especially when Ruby addresses her. "Wooow… Aunt Weiss sure did a good job, huh? It's so neatly folded!"

"Wah!"

She couldn't help thinking that Weiss was getting a bit better with kids, especially seeing how she had actually changed the diaper instead of fumbling around until Ruby returned. Weiss had a natural aversion to gross things, after all. As Ruby brings Anna up into her arms, she can't help but wonder how to bring up the potential mission to Weiss in a way that won't worry her.

Things were already crazy enough without adding in a quarantined town and potential Grimm, after all.

She bounces Anna on her hip, hoping that Blake and Yang are having a nicer time with their thoughts tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

**And, so, after a long period of waiting, it is finally finished. Once more, I'm very sorry for the delay in chapters for this story. They are just VERY long and I get side-tracked by things easily. Thank you very much to the folks that have been patiently waiting and wondering where the next chapter is, and still stuck around. I will try my very best to have this NOT take another four months this time. I hope it all runs together well, too, as this is about four months of off and on writing here.  
As well, I just want to say that this story has definitely split off from the show in a major way, so I apologize if some of the logic behind things isn't like the show or new characters aren't included. I started this series nearly two years ago. x0 I don't think that will be an issue, but just in case it is for any of you, I'm sorry about that!  
**

**Anyway! Without further ado, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Weiss had to change a diaper. That's… awesome. I would have paid MONEY to see that happen, Blake."

"I agree. I would have expected her to try and get Ruby to do it, to be honest." Blake replies to her girlfriend, a rather tired Anna nuzzling into the faunus' chest closely. As she had expected, Ruby had tuckered the little girl out to quite a degree. She fully expected an uninterrupted night of sleeping for their daughter. She would have to make arrangements like this more often. Especially since Ruby seemed to enjoy it. Weiss… less so, but she still had a smile on her face.

Yang laughs in response, glancing back to Blake slowly. "At least she's getting more used to kids, yeah?"

Blake glances over to the other woman slowly, ears giving a small twitch as her eyes watch her girlfriend carefully. "She seems to be grooming Weiss for children, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah, she totally wants them. Told me while I was still preggers." Yang says with a nod. "She just knows that Weiss is busy and isn't exactly comfortable around children. She'll probably talk to her about it after that event of Weiss'."

"That's happening relatively soon, isn't it? It would have to be, she's been working on it for so long..."

"I think it's goin' down next week? Maybe? Yeah, pretty sure that's when it's happening. Gonna be a big deal, y'know. It's already a big deal and the day hasn't even come, yet. Ya got people all over either praising, arguing, or downright hating it."

"It means a great deal to me that she's this determined to grant us rights. And, she's doing it in such a way that no one gets hurt. People are going to get pissed off about the change, but… at least it's not bluntly forceful. Everything is done legally."

"I just hope people don't see it as a joke, y'know? Politicians are just snakes in suits, most of the time."

"You're not wrong."

"Wish I was, sometimes, but what are ya gonna do?" The blonde says with a shrug, then shaking her head quickly. "Nah, not gonna get like that. Not after the night we've had. This is happy night. This is 'we just went on a kick-ass date and have an awesome kid to come back to' night. Let's not talk about how heavy things are around everything."

She looks over when she feels the light collision of the side of Blake's head with her shoulder, the other woman leaning on her just a bit. "No complaint, here."

When they finally reach their front door, the door is quickly unlocked and the mothers step inside with a sigh of contentment. "Nice to take a break, but I gotta say I was missin' home a bit."

"It was good for you. You see? Anna was perfectly fine and you were able to have some time to yourself. No need to worry." Blake says with a smile, leaning up to give her girlfriend a kiss on the lips. "I'm going to go put the little one to bed. Don't go anywhere, though… I have plans for you."

"Ohh~ I like the sound of that..." Yang purrs, giving the smallest of nips back to the faunus. "I'll be here."

Blake gives her that sly, sexy expression that, quite honestly, turns her to complete goo as she walks toward the stairs. When she disappears up them, Yang lets out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "Wow."

She really had to wonder how she got with such a hottie, sometimes.

Deciding to stroll around the house while waiting for Blake, she is slightly surprised when she hears the phone start ringing. With wide eyes, she bolts to where it is and quickly answers it. Though, she doesn't acknowledge the person on the other line until she's sure she doesn't hear the screaming of a grumpy Anna. When she does, her voice is almost a hiss of breath. "This better be good!"

"Oh, hey! It's Coco… Er… Sorry."

"Coco, I love you, but if you would have woken Anna up from what will be a very good sleep for her? I would have shoved your gun up your ass."

"Sheesh. Don't even buy me dinner, first. Pretty rude, Xiao Long."

Yang can't help the smile that comes to her face, despite her slight annoyance at what almost occurred. Coco was just that good a friend of hers. "So, what did ya want, anyway? And, how'd your dinner with Velvet go?"

"Great! The food was prepared to perfection and Velvs is gorgeous, as ever. Nice, romantic meal, just like my girl likes. Actually, she was getting herself all ready..."

"Ohhh, is she whippin' out the silky jammies?"

"What can I say? I'm just that smooth~"

"Well… If Velvet's whippin' out the silky jammies, why in the hell would you want to talk to me? Go jump on her, girl!"

"Well, I had to tell you something weird I just got over the phone. Apparently there's a call going out for hunter's and huntresses to deal with a situation. Specifically non-faunus hunters and huntresses. It's real a real quiet kind of job."

Yang raises an eyebrow slowly, not expecting the oddness of that requirement. "Why the call for humans, though?"

"I've got no clue. What they gave me to go on wasn't much. Subtle hints of a quarantine, somewhere.. Something about Grimm? Other than that, nothing. At least, that's what Jaune told me. Whatever it is, it must be pretty big for everyone to want to keep it under wraps so badly."

"I got ya. Hm. I dunno if I can, though, Coco. I've got Anna to take care of, y'know?"

"I know. I just thought I'd tell you about it to think about. Talk it over with Blake and, if you're interested, give me a call in the morning."

"I will. Heh, what's Velvet's opinion on you going?"

"She doesn't like it. Says she's got a bad feeling about it, for some reason. But, we agreed that I'll check it out. I get a chance to redeem not spending the weekend together by way of massages, tonight. Huh? Oh, it's just Yang. Heh. Trust me, Velvs, I'll be in. You just get your cute little butt in the bed~"

Yang smiles as she hears this side of the conversation, though she can hear the faint sound of Velvet's accent if she listens hard enough. Coco comes back to the conversation after a few moments, her voice sounding a touch happier. "Anyway, yeah. Talk it over and get back to me. Now, uh… Excuse me for cutting this conversation short, but my girlfriend is drawing patterns on my back with her fingers and it's VERY distracting. See ya!"

She hears an abrupt click, causing her to grin and laugh to herself. She really hadn't known quite how sensual Velvet actually was until Coco. Especially how much she seemed to like driving Coco absolutely crazy.

"Heh… Those two- Yaa!" She squeaks in surprise, suddenly feeling two arms wrap around her waist and tug her back. Though, she immediately settles as she feels a gentle nuzzling into her hair… along with a soft purring.

"Scared you, did I?"

"Sheesh, Blake… You'd think I'd be used to you doin' this, by now. I don't know how you manage to do that every single time..."

"I'm good at what I do. Who was that on the phone?"

"First. How did Anna react?"

"She stayed asleep. Ruby really wore her out, it seems. Not even a sniffle or sound."

"Attagirl. Uh.. It was Coco. Apparently, there's a mission calling a whole bunch of hunters and huntresses together. Some sort of quarantine area we need to get into. Catch is.. no faunus, apparently."

She can feel Blake's face moving, chin now resting on her shoulder. "Hm. Well, you did say 'quarantine'. Maybe it involves something deadly to faunus..."

"Maybe. I guess we'll get more details when we get there. Coco wanted me to talk it over with you about going… Maybe I shouldn't. Anna..."

"...will be perfectly fine with me, Yang."

"But, I don't wanna leave you two here all alone..."

"If I somehow become lonely in the presence of my own child, I can just call Velvet over. I'm guessing she'll be fairly free, too." Blake says with a gentle smile, leaning in to kiss the blonde's neck. "We'll be fine. You go make sure everything's alright."

"Okay. I'll call Coco in the morning. But, for now?"

"Yes?"

"You're mine." Yang says with a grin, spinning herself around to push Blake back. She stumbles and trips backward onto the couch, Yang walking over to her before crawling on top. Though, the black-haired woman is soon smirking as a purr rumbles through her chest. Her tail lightly curls around Yang's leg, brushing the skin slowly.

"Prove it."

* * *

"Hey, Rubes! I didn't know you'd be here, too!" Yang says with a grin, further stepping inside the main area of the building. Coco had been more than happy to drive Yang over, in the absence of Blake, both of them only getting lost once on their way here. Upon hearing her, Ruby spins around, mirrors Yang's grin, and hops up to give her older sister a big hug.

"Same here!" Ruby says with a laugh, putting her hood down and shaking her short hair out. "I thought you'd be all tired, after last night!"

"Oh, I manage. Speaking of tired, how's your ball and chain doin'?"

"She's doing _just _fine, Yang." An icy voice comes from just behind Weiss Ruby, the redhead stepping aside to reveal Weiss as she steps up. Wow, she looks… tired. Yang had been joking, but Weiss really looked like she could she could use a few day's more rest than she's gotten. "I'd appreciate not being referred to as such."

"Ease down, Weiss, it was just a joke." Yang says with a smile, though anyone could see the concern in it. Coco, who hadn't seen Weiss in person for a while, also looks a little surprised. "Hey, are you… okay? You look pretty overworked. And, kinda bothered."

Ruby's eye quickly flashes over to Weiss, whose own eyes just dull a bit in response. "It's nothing. I am overworked, but it's toward a good cause. I'll have a nice, long sleep when it's all over with."

"Is everything going alright with the planning? That's next week, isn't it?"

"Indeed. And, the politicians are stubborn, as ever, to come in for good reasons. Granted, some are. But, most are coming to it as a PR stunt to gain more praise without doing a thing or coming to watch it fail. Some are just scared of the backlash. I'm having far more luck with activist groups and faunus in the wealthier side of things. I finally got the differing faunus tribes to agree in coming, so that's something. It's frustrating."

"Yeesh."

"Yeesh doesn't even begin to explain it, Yang. And, now, we've got whatever this is to deal with. As if there isn't already enough going on."

"Wait, Weiss… Don't you not do huntress work anymore?"

Ruby looks back to Weiss again, though the same cool and impassive expression stays on her face. Something was up. She just got that feeling, especially with how worried Ruby seemed to be. And, when Ruby was worried, it was only natural that she was going to want to know why.

"This sounded important. And, they no doubt needed skilled huntresses, of which I am. Ruby was going, so I figured that I should go with her. Simple as that."

Yang looks between the two skeptically, not quite sure about Weiss just going because of the 'need for skilled huntresses'. Because, if she knew anything about Weiss, it was that she was rather good at hiding things. Almost as good at hiding things as Blake was. But, they both had telltale signs that something was up. For Blake, it was a very subtle twitching of her ears. For Weiss, however, it was the fact that her face became cool and let nothing pass through it.

Probably some sort of remnant of her childhood, where she _had_ to be this way on a consistent basis.

She opens her mouth to question further when a hush suddenly goes through all the hunters and huntresses in front of them, eyes glancing over slowly to see Ozpin walking into the building. As always, Glynda is right by his side and wearing a stern expression. Both of them are obviously older, but haven't seemed to have lost a bit of their stride. Ozpin looks relaxed… while still being worried enough to bring all new concerns to the forefront of the blonde's mind.

Ozpin didn't tend to be worried by a great many things.

He smiles warmly when he sees Ruby and Weiss, giving them a nod of his head. "Good morning, Ruby. Ah, Weiss. I haven't seen you since the wedding. How have things been going?"

"With us? Just fine." Weiss says with a smile. "Just busy, as usual."

"Your plight isn't lost on deaf ears, I assure you. Things have been… quite unusual, as of late."

"Ozpin… What's been going on? Why did you call us all here?"

"It will be easier to tell you all at the same time. There is a mission that requires all our attention. Can I have everyone's attention, please?" He calls out, walking past the group and up to the front. "We've got a problem with one of the villages. I'm sure you're wondering why initial details were so scarce. That is because there is already a high amount of panic there… and we don't need more."

A murmur goes through the crowd before Glynda silences them with a shush.

"As you know, the whole town has been quarantined and the Grimm are somehow involved. All that is true. We have yet to figure out how this has happened, but the people there are exhibiting signs of some sort of disease that stems from Grimm. And, it's spreading quickly. That would be problem enough, as well as a just cause for hunter involvement. But, that isn't the only reason..."

He takes a slow sip at the ever-present coffee in his hand. "The plague only affects humans."

Yang blinks a few times in response, glancing over to Coco quickly. She's wearing a similar look of concern on her face, seemingly not liking the sound of this either.

"The problem falls between the humans and the faunus, in that region. Some humans are blaming the faunus for the plague… and some faunus are taking the state of the village as an opportunity. Innocent people on both sides are caught in the crossfire and it won't be getting any better without a mitigating hand. That will be all of you. We've asked for human members so as not make the situation more tense than it already is."

Yang can't help but speak up, crossing her arms on her chest. "How so?"

"As much as I hate to say it, sending any of our faunus hunters might cause more trouble from the human side. I don't want any of them to be hurt by someone with a vendetta placing the blame on them, Miss Xiao Long. I'm sure you understand."

She's about to say that she's sure that they could handle it with friends at their side, but doesn't open her mouth. "Yeah."

"I do apologize for the secrecy on this matter, everyone. And, for the… less than ideal circumstances. But, we will need to do what we can for these people, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. Discover what we can about this plague and repair the village. We'll be splitting you up into small squads to send in waves. The first team will make contact with the villager leader and set up places to let the other transports land, then help out how they can. Second team will begin securing the area and lend further aid, try to find out where the virus might be coming from. When the first two teams have cooled things down, we'll send all the rest… Is that clear?"

Nods come from the hunters and huntresses, looking slightly unsure but determined in their desire to help.

"Very well. Let's split off into teams. First team..."

* * *

It was quite a long trip to this out-of-the-way village, with the squad of hunters taking short rests all throughout it. Weiss hadn't done this sort of thing in far too long, getting down in the mud with her fellow hunters and huntresses, and was getting a small measure of air sickness from the speed of the transport. She supposed that having a job in business had softened her tolerance to such things.

Ruby is humming to herself, the red headphones that she carried on every trip blasting some manner of rock music into her ears. She really wishes that her wife would take more caution with her own hearing.

Everyone here seems to have some sort of ritual to prepare them for touchdown, save Weiss. Pyrrha is doing some form of meditation, her bright red locks of hair falling over her face as she takes steady breaths. Jaune's leg hasn't stopped moving this whole time, his hand stroking his chin as he mutters things to himself.

She feels this immense need to break the silence, for some reason. Perhaps out of her own awkwardness on being in a hunter mission for the first time in a year or so… or perhaps to divert her attentions from the fiddling she's been doing.

"So… Who's watching Sophia?"

Jaune glances at Pyrrha before turning his attentions to Weiss (as the redhead makes no attempt at conversation). "We got Yatsuhashi to watch her for a bit. It's a win-win. Yatsuhashi loves kids and Sophia loves training with him."

"Why not Nora and Ren?"

"They're on a different mission. Down in a jungle, somewhere, if I'm remembering right."

"They… seem to take on a lot of missions, don't they? It feels like they're always working. I had to get them to clear out some space in their schedule ahead of time in order to have them available to guard the faunus rights event."

"That's just the way they are, I guess. It helps that they have an iron-clad agreement to follow each other on every mission. So, sometimes you're getting two professional huntsman for the price of one. They get called on a lot of missions, as you can guess."

"It makes enough sense… Hm. What's Pyrrha doing? I don't recall her ever meditating so… deeply."

"Oh, that..." He replies, taking a glance back over to Pyrrha. "She says it helps her conserve energy, makes her more prepared if we run into trouble right off the transport."

"You think we'll encounter trouble?"

"Well, from what I've heard and Ozpin has told us, this place is a quarantine zone. And, tensions between faunus and human are getting pretty strained. So… we could encounter hostile people."

"Right. Because the faunus aren't getting sick."

"Exactly. I'm hoping it won't come to that, though. We've got to do our best to get people to let cooler heads prevail. I have to tell you, I really hope that event of yours goes well. Otherwise, it looks like we're teetering on the edge of an all-out racial war. Things like this happening aren't helping, either."

"Are relations really breaking down that quickly? Great… At least those elitist faunus have all but disappeared. I was worried their ideals would latch on and find a following, for a time."

"Elitist faunus?"

"Yes. They were a small group that began to speak of things like faunus superiority and other such conflict-producing speech. They had this idea that humans were inferior to faunus, that they were the next step in the evolutionary process. So, naturally, that would do a lot to anger racist humans and bring some to unease. That's why we need everyone to have the same rights. Things like this tend to spill out, when one group is over another. It's a tightrope that is very difficult to traverse, trying to get everyone to work together."

"Well, let's just hope that more people start thinking like you. Relations haven't been this tense since the White Fang turned to terrorism. But, this time… it's like each side is waiting for the other to make a move. "

A sudden motion draws Weiss' attention, Pyrrha standing up to her full height and glancing to the door. "We are entering the plague zone. Masks on, everyone." She says, walking up to the transport door and giving it a sharp tap.

"I love it when you get all serious on me." Jaune says with a chuckle, standing slowly to his feet and walking toward the amazon with a smile. She rolls her eyes and gives him a light punch in the shoulder, though Weiss can see her smile very clearly. At least they could remain light when heading out on missions.

She turns her head back to see Ruby as she stands up to stretch, the redhead sighing contentedly at the satisfying 'pop' in her back. Well, wasn't THAT an alluring sight… "Whoo… Worst thing about bein' a huntress? The waiting on transports. Definitely. You doin' okay, honey? I know you haven't been on one in a while..."

"I'm fine. I wish the pilot would refrain from shaking the whole ship with his maneuvers, but other than that issue..." Weiss answers, watching as Pyrrha and Jaune place on their masks over their faces.

Pyrrha, naturally, only needs to lift her hand to manipulate the metal into floating in the air, slipping onto her face with little other input from her needed. Her mask has been painted with bright red and gold colorings, giving a small hiss as it clicks into place and the huntress begins to breathe through it. Jaune's mask hisses in place soon afterward, his more of a silver color, and he bangs his fist on the transport.

Ruby and Weiss make haste in putting on their own masks, each hissing as they move onto their faces. She had to admit that they were very well made and comfortable, turning the slightly muggy air of the transport into cool, crisp air fresh for her lungs. A crackle of a communication unit makes it's presence known, to be used at her leisure. Just as they get their masks on, the transport doors shoot open with a clatter and give them a broad view of the town as they fly through the air.

Pyrrha places her weapon on her back, gives her hands a quick shake (which are promptly used to give Jaune a smack on the butt as she turns away) and leaps from the transport with a light grunt. Not to be outdone, Ruby moves forward and surges from the same opening in a burst of petals. Weiss' eyes narrow a little, a low sigh hissing from her mask. "I told her to wait for me. What was the FIRST thing I told her?" She says in a mutter, getting into a crouch as she readies her weapon.

In an instant, she has shot from the transport (hearing Jaune calling out 'right… guess I'll just stick with the pilot, then!' behind her) and begins to use glyphs to slow her descent. Her glyph skills are just a tad rusty from under-use, but they are more than enough to get her around. She glances over to see Pyrrha shoot her arms out, a sort of liquid metal spraying from her gauntlets. With a wave of her hand, the falling liquid forms into a solid disk of metal that she guides to her feet.

Keeping the motions of her hands steady, she wills it to stop her fall and float into the air. With this in place, she is able to easily float down toward the ground. Weiss has to admit that Pyrrha's mastery over metal has become very efficient since she saw it last.

As petals begin to flick past her face, her eyes move toward her wife. Ruby has activated her semblance to shoot through the air with seemingly reckless abandon. Though, she knows her wife too well from missions they had done together before. Despite going at speeds that anyone would deem as dangerous, Ruby's silver eye was analyzing the area for all the different ways she could land safely.

Weiss' thoughts are only proven true as Crescent Rose is quickly taken out and snapped into scythe position, the blade jamming into a sturdy tree. The wood creaks with the force and weight before Ruby is finally brought to a complete stop. Her mask crackles as she chuckles through it, her words coming into Weiss' communicator. "Well… I'm sure re-LEAFED that worked..."

"Ruby… I get MORE than enough puns from Yang. I don't need my wife spewing them at me, too." Weiss answers, grunting as a final glyph sends her safely to the ground. She can hear Ruby's laughing in her ear, the snapping of wood ringing out as she lands next to her.

"Yang would have made, like, five by now. Liiike… Oh! 'Rubes, that landing was OAK-ay', haha~"

"Ugh."

Pyrrha floats down to their position a few moments after they land. She hops off her disk, a swish of her hand reducing it back to a liquid form. It makes an uncomfortable sloshing sound as it moves back into her gauntlets. Her mask glints in the low sunlight as she looks toward the large gate at entrance of the town.

It was undoubtedly new in it's construction, looking no older than a few days.

They can see just beyond the gate, seeing smoke billowing up from inside and fires being raging in buildings. The large town wasn't as under control as it looked in front of the gate. Chaos was still rippling around inside, that was obvious. The sounds of panic drift over the walls, as well as the moans of the injured. This is… awful, just from the distance.

Weiss really doesn't want to imagine what it looks like on the inside.

There are a few guards in gas masks standing near the entrance (human, undoubtedly), fingers held tight on their guns. Especially when the three woman begin to walk closer.

"Halt! Identify yourself." One says in a gruff voice, the other guard shaking a little as he holds up his own gun.

"I am Pyrrha Niikos. My companions are Ruby and Weiss Rose. We are huntresses with authority to land here." The amazon answers smoothly, folding her arms across her chest. "Our other member is awaiting an area to land with the pilot and the other transport is on it's way. We were called here by your supervisor."

"You're not faunus, are ya?" The guard asks with a distinct and unapologetic note of distaste, glancing between all of their masks as if they were hiding long ears behind them.

The very question makes Weiss bristle, her own reply coming out before she can stop it. "And, what if we were, you cretin? You would refuse a free offer of help, simply because of a stupid thing like race?" Her voice asks, crackling under her mask as Ruby looks to her nervously.

"Lady, I dunno what your problem is or what you've been told… But, the faunus did this to us."

Weiss steps right up to him, seeming ten feet tall despite her actual size. The other guard actually takes a few steps back to avoid her, the one her sight is narrowed in on standing his ground firmly. "You condemn them because you can't find anyone else to blame and they're the easiest target. Isn't that right? You have no other reasons to blame them. I've seen it time and again. Faunus carrying undue superstition… You're wrong."

"That so? 'Cus, I don't see any faunus suffering from that disease, lady. I also don't see any humans looting the homes of the dead. Ain't that a coincidence? Not only that, but we don't have enough people to battle them back. We're sick because of them. Letting faunus live in our town was the biggest mistake we ever made."

"The actions of a minority have no weight to the majority!" Weiss says lowly, stepping right in close. "You damn well know that it would happen the other way around, if the disease infected faunus. There are cruel, sick people on both sides… So, don't you DARE blame all faunus for this."

The man leans in, his eyes narrowed behind the gas mask. "Whatever you say, lady. I'm just stating the facts. If you're going to side with the ones killing us, maybe we don't need your help as badly as you think."

"Weiss..."

She looks back at Ruby, who's unsure voice causes her to sigh and step back. Pyrrha takes over, talking to the two guards as Ruby comes up beside her wife. "We gotta help them, Weiss. Even if we don't like 'em. Arguing isn't going to make peace between the two. Have to find the way to get both sides well again."

"I know, Ruby, I just… I am so sick of people like that. I've talked to enough of them that it leaves a very sour taste in my mouth when just ONE more tries to squeeze their way in..."

"Hey… It'll be okay, alright?"

Weiss doesn't get the ability to answer, as Pyrrha calls them over as she opens her mouth to reply. She's communicating with Jaune as they pass into the town, the heavy sound of her boots clunking along the ground. "We're in, Jaune. I'll meet with this supervisor and get us a place to land the transports. Keep a presence in the sky."

"Gotcha. Be careful, Py."

"Worried about me, already? I haven't been down here five minutes, Jaune." Pyrrha coos affectionately, Jaune's awkward cough crackling over their communicators.

"Heh. Right, sorry. How's it looking down there?"

"We're passing into the town, now, so we haven't seen it up close. It looked pretty bad from a distance, though. I can't imagine it getting any better from here. What's the status on that other transport?"

"Just got a message from them. Yang said that the pilot's making a breakneck pace toward the town. They shouldn't be too much longer, if that's any indication."

"Very good. Keep a presence in the sky, until we can authorize a landing. These people are jumpy, and for good reason. Just the outside looked bad enough. That racial war we're on the verge of doesn't seem to be cooling any, in this region. I..." She trails off as they walk inside, looking around with concerned eyes.

It was even worse, inside, than it was outside.

Small fires were breaking out in houses, the shattering of glass signaling the bandits that the guard outside had mentioned to Weiss. The remaining guards seemed to be trying to restore a semblance of order. It was a welcome sight, in the madness. As they walk forward, one of the gas-masked guards runs up to them and pants slowly. She salutes the huntresses as they come to a stop, not seeming to know quite what the protocol is for greeting them.

"Hello, Ma'ams! Welcome to hell."

Yeah, that really wasn't a good start.

"I assume you're here to see the supervisor? I was tasked with leading you there." The woman says, glancing back as another shattering sound rings out. "We'd better hurry. In addition to the vandals just in this town, bandits are somehow getting past the city walls. We've posted guards at every entrance and we still can't stop them! These poor people have already suffered enough… The sooner you get to him, the sooner we can get you pointed where they're hurting the most."

Pyrrha nods, glancing around carefully before letting out a sigh. "Of course. Lead the way. Though, if I could inquire about a place for our remaining members to land?"

"What channel are they on? I can blast the coordinates to them from here."

As Pyrrha talks with the guard, Weiss is glancing at a nearby building as it burns. No doubt the work of rowdy bandits carelessly smashing things or fanatics trying to burn whatever places they feel the plague might arise from. She's really not sure which option she finds more horrifying. The few amount of guards still left means that there isn't quite enough of a presence to stop them or fix the fires. With a frown, she looks back to Pyrrha and Ruby.

"Pyrrha, you go on ahead and meet with the supervisor. See where he wants us and we'll meet you there. Until then, me and Ruby will try to get the some of these fires under control."

Pyrrha nods, quickly gesturing to the guard assigned to leading her. They take off toward the heart of the town, Weiss gazing at the burning building in front of her with narrowed eyes, walking steadily toward it. She can feel the heat against her naturally cold skin even from here, causing a small amount of discomfort. "Ruby, I'm going inside to stem the flames. I still hear people inside, I think. Get them out of there as soon as you can."

Her wife nods, body beginning to hum with semblance energy as Weiss moves to the main doors. Cloaking herself in an icy aura, she slices the doors open with her rapier and kicks the pieces away with her boot. Upon immediately being greeted by a lick of flame, she growls and shoots a thick blast of ice into the orange heat.

It pushes back, allowing her to step fully inside with delicate steps. Her body glowing white, she spreads her arms out and sends a wave of cold shooting through the room. The action extinguishes the flames in this particular room and Ruby speeds in to scan the room for people, whisking them quickly out of the area. Weiss continues up the building, freezing over any of the spreading fire that she comes across.

Ruby ends up back outside, holding a woman and some guy over her shoulder. The guy looks awful, skin blotchy and pale, with eyes that are so irritated that they almost glow red. He's wheezing as she sets him down. She winces and lays a hand on his back, rubbing it as her mask crackles with her voice. "Hey, it's alright… Gonna be okay..."

He makes a sort of odd gurgling noise, suddenly coughing up a rather thick, black goop onto the ground. The huntress actually jumps a little at the action, eye widening as his body becomes racked with coughs. So, this must be what the plague looks like… definitely Grimm in origin, as Ozpin had said.

It looks a great deal, to her, like what happened when Grimm blood was ingested. It's poisonous compounds had a nasty knack for twisting blood and, if ingested in large doses, coagulating it into solid masses throughout the body. It was an exceptionally painful way for a person to die, if left untreated for too long. In this man's case, it must have affected his lungs, somehow…

But, this was also worse than simple blood poisoning. Vale and the other kingdoms knew how to cure blood poisoning from Grimm. Otherwise, hunters and huntresses would be dropping like flies from the Grimm blood they were exposed to on a daily basis. Yang, in particular, had to take a lot of shots for it, with how up-close her fighting style was.

Another blast of ice shoots from the window, seeming to put out the fires above. She winces and takes one last look at the suffering man. "I'll be right back, okay? I've gotta get everyone out and then I'll get ya to a doctor or something..."

She has to take herself away. There were still people inside.

* * *

"Well, this simply won't do. Reinforcements being sent in to help that town cannot be allowed. In order to test effectively, we need chaos. Not huntsman and huntresses calming everyone down and causing them to think rationally. Ursa. What is the status?"

"Three huntresses are in the town, the huntsman circling around for clearance to land. We have reason to believe that the second transport carries Yang Xiao Long, Glynda Goodwitch, and Coco Adel. At least, that's what the scouts have told us. They're most likely trying to ease the situation and re-build. A few more transports are carrying others, as well, but they're farther away."

"Mm… I see. Shoot the second transport down. Aim for the engine. We don't want them killed in the blast, do we? And, Ursa?"

"Yes?"

"I want you to take a little welcoming party down there to greet them. Test some of the new technology that Nevermore is so hard at work on." Beowolf states simply, rising from her desk and looking around the dwelling. Thing were coming along quite nicely. "Engage them. Fight well… But, don't be reckless. This is a learning opportunity for us all, not a bloodbath. Do I make myself clear?"

The large man nods, slowly bringing his arms to cross his chest. "Crystal. It'll get done, Beowolf."

"Then, go, old friend. Let us see what those huntresses are made of."

* * *

Yang looks over at the fellow blonde on her team, the older woman adjusting her glasses before glancing to her. "Is there something I can help you with, Yang? You're certainly staring at me enough to make me wonder such."

Yang perks up immediately, smiling a bit in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, Miss Goodwitch, Ma'am. I just didn't expect you to be on this mission, as well. Because you're..."

"Are you trying to say I'm old, Miss Xiao Long?" Glynda replies, taking on a bit more authoritative tone in her voice. "Far too old to keep up with the young women I trained myself?"

"I-I, no… No, that's not it! I thought you weren't going out on missions, anymore, is all… Ma'am." Yang says with a small wince, causing Goodwitch to smirk in the most subtle way possible. The blonde wasn't even sure if she actually HAD smirked.

"It's fine. And, I've told you to just call me Glynda."

"Sorry. I guess, even after all these years, I can't help it." Yang gives a small laugh, leaning back in her seat. "So, Glynda… Why are you here?"

"These are… exceptional circumstances. This village is particularly far gone. Heavy damage. They'll need me to help rebuild more quickly. To add to that, it never hurts to have a senior huntress keeping an eye on things. As confident as I am with your abilities, it's always good to have someone watching your back."

"That makes sense."

"I could say the same about you, as well, Xiao Long."

"Huh?"

The older woman adjusts her glasses slowly, looking toward Yang carefully. "You have a child to look after… I did not expect to see you back for quite a long time."

"Well, this sounded bad an' I thought some help might be needed. Plus, it gives Blake some alone time with Anna for a while. I guess I'm a little smothering, sometimes."

"I suppose it would be hard not to be, given the way the world often is." Glynda comments, though is now looking out of the window of the transport sternly. She's glaring out at it with such an intensity that even Coco is now looking over toward her with slight concern.

"Everything alright, Glynda?" Coco asks as she looks over her shades, glancing between the window and their glaring teammate. The blonde doesn't answer either of them, instead shushing any of their words and closing her eyes slowly. Something really wasn't right about this situation and the senior huntress knew it.

Battle-hardened as she is, her listening skills become her greatest weapon. And, when she closes her eyes… a soft whistling can be heard getting closer under the hum of the transport. Her eyes suddenly flash open.

"Get down."

"Wha-"

"Get down!" She repeats in a yell, her semblance coming to life as she forces them both to the ground. It's only seconds before a heavy impact violently shakes the ship, a loud series of beeps ringing out as it floods with red light.

"What the hell was that?!" Yang yells out, head poking up as Glynda makes her way over to the comm link and taps it furiously.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Pilot, what's the status? What's happening?"

"We got hit by some sort of anti-air missile, Ma'am! Whatever they were, the scanner didn't pick them up… Half the systems are fried, up here!" The pilot responds through his comm, the tapping of buttons heard with the frantic sound of his voice. "Hang tight. They haven't taken us out of the game, yet."

Goodwitch nods, casting her eyes backward and to the transport door. "Yang, get that transport door open. The pilot can't pick up what's hitting us from the scanner."

Yang quickly follows her lead and moves to the emergency exit button, smashing it with her fist… only to have the doors not open. Cursing and hitting the button a few more times, she spins her head around toward her former teacher. "The circuits must be fried, 'cus this door ain't opening!"

"You know perfectly well how to make a door, by now, Xiao Long."

Yang's eyes widen for a moment, then narrow as she nods and walks back to the center of the door. After rearing her hand back, a powerful right hook sends the door flying off it's hinges and out into the air. All three women have to brace themselves as a powerful suction of wind whips through the transport. "What, now, Glynda?!"

"We take down whatever is tailing us." Glynda says calmly as she slowly makes her way over the opening (heels clacking on the metal). Curling an arm around what she can of the transport and gripping her riding crop tightly in the other, she leans out of it and looks around slowly as the wind sends her neatly-composed hair into a flurry of activity. Her eyes can see nothing in the air behind the transport, but narrow with the knowledge that something must be out there.

_What's out there? It must show itself, eventually..._

Suddenly, as if an answer to her prior question, there's a blast of fire and that eerie whistling sound again. She can see that the fire comes from just beneath and to the left of them, eyes widening when she sees a missile heading right toward the bottom of the ship. With a grit of her teeth, she whips her riding crop outward and sends the missile careening off course. It explodes very close to them, causing the ship to rock despite taking no damage.

"There's a ship with some manner of cloaking shield after out transport. Coco, I could use some spreading fire to draw it out of hiding." The blonde orders, snapping her fingers and pointing next to her.

Coco clomps her way over and sits herself down on the edge, pulling her Gatling gun out of it's transportation form and clicking it into place as she puts her shades down. "Any place in particular you want it?"

"Bottom, left."

The brunette smirks and her shades go back up, her weapon whirring as it heats up. "I aim to please."

Her weapon shoots a barrage of bullets toward the point that Glynda had pointed out, looking like they're heading toward nothing… until they spatter solidly against that same nothing. She can see a sort of shimmering that reveals a bit of a form moving around in the air, Glynda making a sound of affirmation.

"Nice shot; keep up the pressure!"

Coco seeks out the light shimmering she can see in the air and focuses her fire on it. It's tricky, considering the fact that cloaked ship keeps trying to evade the hail of bullets slamming into it. But, one particular burst causes a volt of electricity to surge through it. It flickers back and forth between cloaked and visible, a loud shuddering sound coming from the ship below them before it comes into visibility.

It's a rather sleek ship of quite unknown design, none of the woman recognizing a brand. It certainly didn't look like an Atlas military craft design, not even looking of a make similar to what Schnee Dust once made. Once it loses it's cloaking, it fires off two more missiles in their direction. Glynda holds her crop steady, holding the missiles in place before easily turning them around to fire back at the attacking ship.

An explosion at each wing of the ship sends it spiraling downward, disappearing from sight as all three breathe a sigh of relief. Yang looks to Glynda with a serious expression, gesturing out the opening in the transport. "What the hell WAS that? Even the dumbest criminal out there would know not to take down a hunter transport ship!"

"I don't believe this to be simple criminals, Yang. That technology was vastly unfamiliar to me… I will make sure that Ozpin is informed of this. Whatever it was, they appear to be gone for the time being-" She says, only for another explosion to rock the ship once more. This time, they can feel the ship plummeting.

"Shit! How many of 'em are there?!" Yang growls, clicking Ember Celica into place as Glynda rushes back to the opening to look out of it hurriedly.

"I get the feeling like we're going to find out whether we want to or not…." Coco mutters, pointing out of the opening as more of the shimmering shapes appear in the sky. At least four are in their sight, with an unknown number likely at their other side.

Glynda takes a deep breath before letting out a wispy sigh.

"This ship is going down. So, why don't we take a few of them with us?" She says smoothly, heels clicking as she steps over to the communication button and tells the pilot to evacuate himself. "Perhaps they caught me in a reckless mood, but I do not plan to go down with this ship. Let's go down with theirs."

Yang can't help but grin a little, liking the sound of this plan. "Whatcha got in mind, teach?"

"Oh, you'll like this, Xiao Long. Of that, I am certain. Stand in front of the opening in your fighting stance. Remember to take out as many as you can. Land safely." The blonde says, adjusting her glasses and watching as Yang assumes her position. She rears back before sending her crop forward, blasting Yang out of the transport at a high speed.

The sound of the woman whooping is quite loud.

Glynda looks at Coco and gestures her head over, causing the brunette to sigh. "Shit. I just bought this hat."

"I'm quite sure you'll manage, Miss Adel. Now, quit complaining and let me shoot you out of the transport."

"Velvet was right… Should have stayed home to cuddle." Coco mutters under her breath as she assumes her position… launched out of the falling transport a few seconds later.

Yang has already hit one of the ships directly, a powerful haymaker reducing the glass to nothing but powder in the air. The pilot inside looks up at her in surprise, smirk coming from her. "Hey, you're the one who shot us down, right? No, it's cool. Just let me return the favor!"

She swings her arm down hard, smashing into the controls and bring a handful of wires with her when she pulls it back up. "Thanks for travelin' Air Xiao Long. Have a nice day!" She grins and tosses the wires away as the ship begins to plummet. Lining her gauntlets up to the center, a single blast from Ember Celica launches her backwards. It's pretty much by luck that she lands onto another nearby ship and even better that she manages to elbow drop it in the process.

It heavily dents the metal, causing the ship to lurch to the side with her weight. She can see off to her side that Coco has landed on one of the ships, her handbag turning into it's minigun form. She is gritting her teeth and furiously blasting streams of bullets all over the air, the blonde able to see the reason for this when she sees brunette hair flowing freely… and a distinct lack of hat.

Oh, boy.

She can also see Glynda as she lands on another ship, herself, flicking her crop towards the shimmering forms that are appearing around them. Just how many of these things were there? And, who's sending them? She's going to have to make sure to interrogate one of them when they land, seeing as they appear to be ejecting when their ships are rendered useless.

They're making short work of these ships, as they appear to have focused all the energy they hold into the cloaking systems. Bad choice, when dealing with experienced hunters. Bad choice. Especially now that they knew how to seek out the ships.

They may have brought the transport down, but they weren't going to bring these three down.


	9. Chapter 9

**Unsubtle references ahead, of course! ^^ As always, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

By the end of their assault, the ships were going down. Whether they wanted them to or not. Each huntress was making up their own strategy to not be killed in the impact, Yang's being to jump off just before the crash and into the ground. The ground was far less risky than a potential explosion, after all. She can see Glynda and Coco off in the distance, both gripping their respectively crashing ships.

The blonde taps her communicator and looks over at them, gritting her teeth a little. "Guys, what're we gonna do? There's a forest down there… Where do we meet up?"

Glynda immediately responds. "I will turn on my tracking beacon. Both of you follow it to me and we will travel to the town on foot. It isn't that far from our current position. It may be dangerous, but we have little choice in the matter, now." She says, Yang able to hear the loud crackling of the wind through the device.

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Soon as I land, I'll try to find you guys."

"Miss Adel? Do you have any objections?"

"Two-hundred and fifty lien, that hat cost me! Now it's probably at the bottom of that swamp!"

"Very good. I shall see you both down below. Make sure to put on your masks before we head to the town. It IS a plague zone, after all. Goodwitch out."

As she says that, Yang finds the distance between them to be too tough to see. So, she focuses on her own escape instead of squinting her eyes to see if she can spot her partners. She sees the ground quickly approaching, countless trees littering a swampy area below. Countless places that this descent could go wrong. Countless ways to get hurt.

Oh, this was going to suck.

She braces herself as the plummeting ship enters the treeline, immediately sent veering off-course when it harshly strikes a tree. It spins for what feels like an eternity before nearing the ground, a very dizzy Yang releasing her grip on the ship and falling heavily to the ground. It knocks all the wind out of her, a sharp pain coming over her back as she hits the muddy spot.

Her eyes flare red, a few ragged gasps coming from her as the loud sounds of the ship crashing and exploding ring out in the distance. Yeah… She's definitely glad she missed THAT particular party.

She slowly sits up and holds a hand to her chest. Her wheezing slows a bit as more breath is allowed back into her lungs in a slow manner. "Whoo… Well, that could have gone worse, I guess."

She looks to her side as she hears a low croak, finding a toad to be sitting right near her face. It stares at her for a few moments, then bulging out it's throat as it croaks again. "What're YOU lookin' at?" She mutters as she gets herself up, groaning as she finds her skin, clothes, and hair to be mud-soaked.

"It's gonna be a hell of a laundry day, when I get back."

She stretches out and waits until she hears a satisfying 'pop' in her back before starting to walk forward. She takes out her scroll, flicking it on so that she can hear when her former teacher turns on her tracking beacon. Until then… She was pretty much unsure of where to go. She had to admit that some of her huntress instincts had left her, especially since she had been out of the business for a while.

Well, quite a while, anyway. Her pregnancy coupled with looking after Anna had certainly equated to a long time away. Not that she really cared.

Based on what she just went through, she was finding that she liked this decidedly less than she did in her youth. When she was a teenager, she probably would have been cracking puns the whole way down and living for the thrill. Now, she was just… hoping that she landed and didn't get too banged up.

To be honest, she's starting to wonder if she should have even taken the job again. Maybe it was just getting older, but she would really prefer to be at home and sitting in her comfy chair than slogging through this humid swamp.

"Sheesh, when did I turn into dad? Add a pair of fuzzy slippers..." She says to herself, grimacing as her boot makes a low, wet 'splurch' sound as she steps forward.

"Ugh. Had to be a _swamp_, didn't it? Why don't we ever fight someplace nice? Like a beach. I could work on my tan! Nope, always has to be… rgh… in forests… ngh… or slimy places." A few grunts come from her, having to pull her boots out of the muck with every step, only to plunge back in with the next. "No chance of me smellin' good after this, either. Yayy..."

She steps forward a little more, then quickly checks her scroll for any signs of the tracking beacon being activated. No signs at all. But, shouldn't she have landed, by now? She had to have… What was taking her so long? She frowns a bit, tapping at her scroll a few more times to rescan the area for anything. Still nothing. No blips, no beeps, and certainly no Glynda. Nada, zip, zilch, and the big goose-egg. "C'mon, Glynda… What're ya doing? We've gotta head out, here."

Her head rises up quickly when she hears the sounds of gunfire in the distance, it sounding quite a bit like… "Coco?"

She was getting a bad feeling about this. Coco wouldn't be letting off rounds unless she was being attacked, as the ammunition for her gun was a little expensive for just using it as an intimidation tactic. Whatever she was firing at was clearly no accident. Glynda would have to wait. Right now, she had a friend in possible danger to help out. "She must be in trouble. Better follow the sounds. Maybe it's those people who attacked the ship..."

A slow clap rings out in the silent air, Yang freezing before looking behind her. A very large man is standing a distance away, clapping his hands together slowly. He has rather large gauntlets on his hands that is accompanied by a set of light armoring, oddly colored in a bright red. He's wearing what appears to be the… bone mask of an Ursa? She narrows her eyes a bit, on her guard nearly immediately. Any sort of looney who decides wearing a Grimm mask is okay obviously has something wrong with them.

"How astute of you." The man says slowly, a black tail carefully swishing behind him. "But, I would be more concerned with yourself, at the moment… Yang Xiao Long."

Yang's eyes widen, then narrow even more. "Who are you? How do you-"

"Know your name? That isn't important, is it? Let's get to know each other on a first name basis before we go into matters like that. My name is Ursa. And, I believe we are on equal grounds of knowledge now." The man begins to walk forward, form seeming to grow taller as he comes closer. "You're the brawler of the renowned team RWBY, right? Why don't we test how good you really are?"

Yang brings her fists up, growling lowly. "You want a fight with me so bad? I'll give it to ya. But, it's your funeral, buddy. And, once I'm done with ya, you're gonna tell me who you are." She gives a little smirk, cracking her knuckles and taking a fighting stance.

"We'll see." Ursa replies, Yang almost being able to hear the smirk behind his voice as he gets in his own battle stance. A few moments of silence comes between them before they both charge forward, displacing mud and muck in all directions.

A blast of air rushes around when their fists connect in a single punch, though Yang quickly strikes upward with her opposite hand. It's quickly caught by her opponent and the two exchange powerful strikes between each other that never quite manage to have impact. Well, not to them, anyway. The exchanges rock the area with their strength.

Switching her focus, the blonde sweeps the larger man's leg with her own, catching just enough off-balance that she's able to line up a shot. A further blast from Ember Celica sends him flying with her punch. He crashes through several trees with a resounding 'crunch', mud splattering upwards around him. He slowly rises to his feet, clutching his ribs and growling lowly.

"The stories don't lie. She's strong." Ursa says, seemingly to himself, Yang running forward to take advantage of him still trying to get up. However, he punches his hand upward and a large slab of ground rises up and smacks her right in the face. The impact sends her backwards into the mud, hand rubbing her jaw as the slab sinks back down.

"But, I know you can be stronger. Show me your true power!"

"Go screw yourself, you crazy bastard!"

"Defiant, huh? Of course you are. Given what you are, I'm barely surprised." He says, pushing into his ribs with his hands. Another crunching rings out from what is likely broken ribs. Though, considering the way this crazy guy is acting, she doesn't really feel that sorry for him. He walks forward as Yang is getting to her feet, still feeling her jaw carefully.

"This comin' from the guy with an Ursa mask on his face." She replies as she spits out a bit of blood, with it splotching into the ground with a wet sound. Her eyes flash with just a little bit of red, though it doesn't stay there long enough to dominate her usual lilac. "You talk an awful big game. How 'bout you back it up?"

Two pairs of eyes meet and narrow, as if daring the other to make a move. The two run at each other again, clashes of fists smashing into each other once more.

Yang punches high, only for him to duck under it and hook her arm with both of his. He moves behind her and bends her arm into a painful hold. She can feel the muscle tensing as it's yanked, gritting her teeth tightly together. With her free arm, she brings it around to smash her elbow right into his injured ribs. He growls in pain, letting his hold loosen just enough for her to wrench her arm free and smash her other elbow into his face.

He stumbles back from the two shots, allowing her to spin around and send another blast from her gauntlets into him. That shot is followed by another to the face and two more to his ribs, with an uppercut finishing the combo off. Clutching his jaw and moving to a more defensive position, he uses his arm to block the next couple punches. Once his other hand is free, he clenches and twists it.

The ground around Yang swallows her feet with the next step, causing her to sink down into the ground to her ankles. He takes a few steps back before stomping the earth and bringing chunks of it upward. The chunks quickly spin around in front of him, punches sending the debris flying toward Yang in quick succession. By the time the first one hits her, she's gotten one foot out of the muck.

Each successful shot of the spinning debris works toward offense, with the last knocking her out of the mud she was trapped in and sending her rolling across the swampy ground. She's sure she's going to have bruises all over her face from the attack, groaning as she gets to her feet as quickly as she can.

Without another word, Ursa lifts his hand quickly and causes the ground at her feet to shoot upward. Gritting her teeth, she jumps out of the way of the displaced ground and blasts off a few rounds from her gauntlets. They hit his armor heavily and he has to take a step back with every forceful shot. With a grunt of effort and a swish of his hands, he sends the ground flying to the side. Yang spins around to punch into it and cause as much of it to crumble as she can.

She grins and brushes herself off dismissively. "That all ya got? I'm a lil' dirty, now, that's all."

She's got to admit that she was a little surprised over his seeming control over the ground. Must have been his semblance. But, it was nothing she couldn't handle. Not with all she'd been through. But, that really wasn't as much the point as her wanting to know just how he knew her. As well as what he was rambling on about with this 'what you are' shit.

More determined, now, she charges forward and connects a few heavy punches from his stomach to the bony mask on his face. One particular shot to the eye smashes it, sending a large crack up the head. He's able to mount a bit of an offense from her high shot, going low and smashing her stomach with his knee. She grunts in pain, doubling over just enough for the next attack to connect. His heavy hands clap her ears on either side of her head, causing her to yell out and take a few steps back as a ringing loudly enters her head.

By the time she's recovered a few moments later, she's able to see him raise both his hands up over his head with a growl. The gauntlets are humming with energy, with her too late to stop him before he brings them down to connect with the ground.

She really wishes she hadn't been.

A loud sound splits through the swamp, rumbling the area as his shot warps the ground. The mud and earth shoots downward, knocking the blonde into a crater of sorts. Before she can even think about getting up, he's leapt into the air. Only, this time, the humming gauntlets slam into her rather than the ground. The force drives her deeper into the earth, with him soon grabbing her by her jacket to yank her to face him.

"So, this strong image you put around yourself… It's all just as inferior as the rest of you. I should have known. You are just a waste of time and life!" He says in a low growl, pulling her to look at his masked face. "Just like your relationship with that faunus… We've had to stoop so low as to treat humans as if they were special, to let you into our lives and accept it despite our superiority… But, that is too much. You polluted the gene pool to bring that hybrid abomination of yours to life-"

Before he can even finish his sentence, her forehead slams into his. In an instant, the tone of the battle changes completely. He is caught off-guard, enough that his hands are taken off her jacket… and for her to now be lifting him. His eyes widen as he looks down into hers, two hard spheres of blazing red staring right back at him. She's scowling deeply, bringing her fist slowly up.

Her plan had been to let him talk, that being about the only reason she let him hold onto her that long… But, with the pain from that last shot welling up inside her and the sudden rage from the words he had started venomously spurting… There was no way she could keep listening.

"Don't you DARE talk about my family." She growls lowly, hair flowing hotly as her hold begins to heat his neck. Her other fist connects into a punch that sends him flying out of the crater he had made. It hits him hard and cracks his mask further, splintering down the eye. He lands in the mud, getting on all fours as she climbs her way out.

Steam comes from the heat her body is making, boots hissing as she touches them to the mud. He tries to crawl away, only to be grabbed by the tail harshly and yanked back to her. He is turned around to face Yang as a hand grips his throat tightly. Rage is burning her eyes and all through her veins, controlling the fist she raises up and brings harshly down on his face.

A series of loud, painful crunches ring out in the swamp.

She stands up when she's finished, raising him up and throwing the large man over her shoulder. He lands on his back heavily, a sort of gasping noise coming from the faunus as the wind is completely knocked out of him. Unbeknownst to Yang, he has somehow managed to tap a small spot on his gauntlet by the time she walks over and presses her boot to his throat threateningly. "Now, you're gonna be a good lil' boy and tell me a story."

His heavily cracked mask is all that stares back at her, a raspy laugh coming from him as his glowing eyes look up at her. "You… really think… it'll be that easy? Don't… make me laugh..."

She snarls, pressing her boot harder into his throat. "You son of a bitch! Tell me why you know my family! Why are you coming after me?!"

"It doesn't matter, now. Not yet. But… don't worry, _human_. Your… rgh… your day of reckoning is fast approaching… and, when that day comes..." A humming begins to ring out, Yang glancing up as the large, shimmering form of a ship slowly comes down from the sky.

She's given barely any warning before it un-cloaks, a loud whirring coming from it before it begins to fire a hail of bullets toward the blonde. She has to step off Ursa in order to effectively block the fire, metal clanging off Ember Celica loudly as Yang growls.

She can see him slowly rise to his feet, pressing a hand to his splintered mask. Black hair has spilled out of where the mask is fractured and a glowing eye stares back at her. "I will greatly enjoy watching your kind suffer."

The cockpit of the ship opens as it lowers to the ground, keeping a steady stream of bullets smashing into her gauntlets to force her to not pursue. He moves slowly to the ship, just barely getting himself in and slumping to the seat. The fire stops, but the ship blasts away from the earth before she can run to it and do any further damage.

That doesn't stop her from blasting at it as it leaves.

With rage still pulsing through her, an unfortunate tree is the target that helps her release some of the frustration. She let him get away. She let him get away with some manner of knowledge of her family. But, what context was it used for? Did he just know her from public image and use it to try and psych her out? What was this whole fight about?

He seemed less like he wanted to kill her and more like he wanted to study her. That would explain the whole 'show me your true power' crap.

But, what about the mask? And, the red armor?

Too many questions were floating around in her head. Far too many that she didn't have answers to. As she wipes the blood pooling at her lip, she's further convinced that she wasn't made for this anymore. She was sick of the crazy people, the power-hungry assholes that gloated while they attacked… She just wanted to go home.

Because things like this had to happen, whenever she was out.

She glances down when she suddenly hears a small 'beep' come from her scroll, bringing out to find that Glynda's tracking beacon is finally working. "About damn time."

After making sure to stretch her body out, getting all the aches and pains relieved for the most part, Yang slowly begins to walk toward the sound. Long way to go.

* * *

Weiss is beginning to notice something that is greatly disturbing her, as she and Ruby go from block to block. These people were showing signs of Grimm blood poisoning, but there were no signs that a Grimm attack had occurred. Setting aside the fact that the poison had somehow gotten into the lungs of the victims, the only signs of conflict was the fighting between bandits, humans, and faunus. No claw marks, no black fur, and not even a single lingering Grimm. They had also yet to see the mutilated corpses that came with said Grimm attacks.

"Ruby, something about this isn't right." The pale woman says slowly as they walk, scanning this block for survivors or fires.

"You caught onto that, too, huh?" Her wife replies as her eye glances to Weiss quickly. "This is crazy. This whole 'plague' thing just… doesn't seem natural."

"Precisely what I was thinking. This plague did not come from a mere Grimm attack. While it may contain the poison found in the blood, the Grimm are not the primary cause. It would be impossible. This had to have been… engineered."

"Engineered?"

"Yes. I'm not sure for what reason this is, but this had to have been created by intelligent life. In order to test that hypothesis, we would need someone who has been here since the plague started. If this disease was truly engineered, as I think it is, then there would have been some manner of suspicious activity before it spread. Someone tampering with wells, an airship drop, strange persons of unknown origin… Something."

"Call in to Pyrrha, maybe she can talk to the leader of the town?"

"Perhaps. That would certainly be an option. We need her to see if she's gotten any word for our transport ships to land, yet… as well as if the other transports are on their way. This town is in too much chaos for just two huntresses to handle."

"Yeah, and the sooner we know Glynda's gonna be here, the better. She can start fixing up the buildings and stuff." Ruby replies with a quick nod, though bites her lip slowly. "Still doesn't answer who would wanna do this, though. Why test it here? I mean, it's a decent population, but..."

"We'll just have to see once the smoke clears."

Weiss brings her scroll up and taps through a few screens, soon contacting Pyrrha. It takes longer than it should… before the sound of her coming in is crackled with static. "Weiss?! Is that you?"

"Pyrrha? Yes, it's me… What's…?"

"The bandits are making another run on the upper half of the city."

"Do you have the leader with you?"

"Er… Yes, he's present. And, um… hiding behind a desk." Pyrrha says slowly, the distant sounds of a shrill scream piercing the communication.

"Oh, no, is that lady okay?!" Ruby asks, worry showing on her face.

"Um… That was him."

"O-Oh."

"None of this matters!" Weiss interrupts, huffing out a cold breath and taking control of the conversation once more. "We need to talk to him about potential suspicious activity within the last few days. Whatever this plague is… it was done on purpose."

"What? Who would do such a thing?"

"That's what we need to find out. If you would kindly turn your tracking beacon on so we can find what building you're in, I would be very grateful."

"Very well."

As Weiss hears a small beeping signaling Pyrrha's position, she lifts a finger up in question. "As well, what is the status of our backup and clearance to land? We could really use Glynda, right now. The town is too far gone-"

"Well, we have the clearance to land and Jaune will be joining soon, but… he hasn't heard word from the other teams. Whenever he tries to get through to them, all he hears is static. Either something is blocking the signal… or..." Pyrrha starts, though her voice trails off in a worried manner. That, of course, makes Ruby very visibly nervous. "I don't want to assume the worst. It is probably just interference. Storms sometimes cause signal breaks."

"Storms that come sporadically out of nowhere?"

"I'm just trying to keep things positive, Weiss." Another explosion rings off from Pyrrha's side, a grunt coming from the woman. "Rgh. Can't talk anymore. If you want to talk, meet me here and we'll talk. You! Get ready to barricade those doors as soon as I exit the building! Don't leave until you're given an all clear! I've got to go, Weiss. Pyrrha out."

The connection cuts off, leaving Weiss to stare at her scroll. Ruby still hasn't lost that worried look on her face, eye flitting around the town nervously. "Weiss, Yang's team was closest to the town, in terms of range… What do you think… happened to them? What if-"

"Whatever happened, I'm… sure they're fine, Ruby. Yang can take care of herself. You know that."

"I know, I know. I just… I shouldn't have let her take this mission. She's got a family, Weiss! Little baby girl at home! She can't be going all MIA on a swampy battlefield!" Ruby says rather loudly, face scrunching up a bit. "Just like she can't..."

"Know about your little stalker?"

A lip is bitten. "...Yes."

"You know she's going to find out, eventually. That level of crazy doesn't go unnoticed for long. She's not going to be happy that you kept this from her, Ruby."

"That's why she's not gonna find out, _Weiss_." Ruby says with a bit of a hard edge, frowning at her wife and crossing her arms across her chest. "We're going to do this quietly and on our own."

"Ruby, you can't keep-"

"I can keep her out of it!" Her voice comes out much more loudly this time, surprised blue looking into the single eye of silver (the blank white not registering anything at all). "Weiss, I… I have to. She can't be dragged into craziness, again… Not when she's so close to having everything she ever wanted… If I tell her, she'll want to run in and help. Just like she always does. I can't have that happen."

Weiss is silent for a few moments, then sighs. "Let's just get to Pyrrha. She sounded like she needed help."

Ruby nods in response, following after Weiss as they take off for Pyrrha's location. It doesn't take too awful long for them to get there, though Weiss is a tad worse for wear by the end of it. She hasn't exactly been in what you would call 'in battle shape' for a while, especially when compared to her professional huntress of a wife. By the time they come around the block that Pyrrha should be on, the CEO is lightly panting.

"I vote… we don't run down any more blocks..." She says to deaf ears, Ruby already flipping Crescent Rose out into attack mode.

"C'mon, Weiss, there she is!"

In the distance, they can see their friend fighting a large group of faunus. For how ragged they look, they seem ludicrously well-armed. It's obvious that Pyrrha is waning just a little bit at the numbers, trying to both attack and defend the building at the same time. Ruby takes off immediately, Weiss groaning before taking off after her with the help of a glyph.

The amazon looks up as she sees Ruby slam into one of the bandits, a swing of the blunt end of her scythe sending him backwards and crashing into another. Weiss follows quickly after her, a graceful over a group resulting in them being frozen to the ground. The pale girl lands next to Pyrrha, giving her a nod as they move back to back.

"Any reason why they're targeting this building in particular?"

"It's the only one with worthwhile valuables left. A hostage in the leader and lien in the treasury. Seems like something worth stealing, rgh, doesn't it?" Pyrrha grunts, smashing a bandit who gets too close in the jaw with her shield.

"Noted. These cretins are quite well-armed and numbered for a bandit group."

"They likely received weapons from an outside source. There's no way they could smuggle Atlas weaponry into a town like this, even as large as it is."

"And, so, the plot thickens."

"I wouldn't have considered it quite so heavily without your previous theory, Weiss. But, it's clear. Whoever did this… wanted this result." This time, the redhead's spear smashes across an unfortunate face at the same time Weiss lands a hard kick with her heel. "It's monstrous."

"...It could be the reason we haven't heard from the rest of the teams. Whoever they are could be cutting off signals, misleading the navigation systems, any number of things… We have to face facts." Gunfire rings out as Ruby begins to take expertly-placed shots toward her enemies, Weiss momentarily distracted by making sure she's okay. "We may be on our own."

"Let's… hope not."

The mask that Pyrrha wears gives a small hiss as she breathes outward, noticing that some of the attackers seem to be actually using their brains and trying to get into the building by going around. They were going to spread the huntress' thin. No matter powerful any of them were, or how little trouble they had batting the bandits aside, they weren't going to be able to be everywhere at once. Ruby seemed to be trying her best to be, whipping all around the battlefield and sending attackers flying.

"This is bad. They're going to get in, at this point. I wish we knew where our backup was!"

Pyrrha looks up with a start when she hears the humming of a ship up into the air, a smile immediately coming to her face as she recognizes that it's their transport. "Jaune!"

The man appears as the side door opens and he has soon leaped into the air, smashing his shield down into the ground and displacing quite a few opponents from attacking. "Sorry to keep you waiting. You don't know how hard it is to find a good parking spot, these days!"

Pyrrha grins at her lover and Weiss gives an appreciative nod, the blonde running in to join the two women in the battle. His shield sends many foes crashing into the earth, the hilt of his sword coming into smash any skulls unfortunate enough to get in his way. The amazon calls his attention to the bandits starting to move around the sides and he nods quickly. He taps a hand to his mask and looks up to the ship, which is performing sweeps of the area.

"Pilot, we need cover fire! Wide spread!"

"Gotcha, Mr. Arc!" The pilot replies back, a humming sound stirring up from the ship before a volley of shots blast from the front gun. The red beams smash into both the ground at the bandits' feet and into singular people themselves, displacing any attempts to go around. In the temporary confusion in the ranks of their enemies, the hunters regroup and take cover.

"They're not retreating… There's no way that the lien in there is worth the effort. It's a good amount, but come on!" Ruby says as she peeks out from behind a large piece of rubble that has been knocked violently from the wall. "This is ridiculous."

"It isn't like we can fight these guys forever. Well, we can, but I don't want to..." Pyrrha mutters, rolling her shoulders as she glances out toward the ship as it blasts at the bandits. "There's got to be a faster way to get them out of here."

"Seems like the ship's handling spreading them out pretty well." Jaune comments in response to her complaint, his eyes flitting around. "Hopefully that'll show them we mean business. Uh… If we didn't, already."

"That just might be the most intelligent plan I've ever heard." Weiss' voice comes out with a rather biting sarcasm. Her arms being slowly crossed over her chest only add to the effect. "I mean… just fight and hope they get scared off? I don't know why I didn't think of that. Sheer brilliance."

Despite the situation, Ruby can't help but let out a giggle when Jaune pouts at her. It really was like no time had passed at all between those two, to be honest. Well… with the exception of Jaune's beard.

"Well, unless you've got a better plan, Weiss?" He asks, his fingers coming to slowly tap on the bits of concrete they're hiding behind. "This is about the only thing we can really do, right now. Unless you see backup coming in at any time."

"What DID happen when you tried to get a message out to the other squads?"

"Like Pyrrha said, just static. Either that, or the signals wouldn't connect."

"Mm."

"Why?"

"The pieces are beginning to fit together, but not in the right way. Someone made this plague. Someone armed these vagabonds. And, someone cut off our communications to reinforcements. All of this was a deliberate attack or test. But, thus far, there have been no answers as to who this is. They want madness, whoever they are. Setting a plague out to kill the human population of a town that doesn't affect faunus, letting the completely faunus bandits have weapons, and not letting hunters and huntress's mitigate the situation… It's a definite agenda."

Jaune's face looks rather grim at that prospect, especially in the fact that they still don't know the identity of such a person. Pyrrha seems to have a similar look, though is gripping her spear much tighter in comparison. "Well… When we figure out who would do this, and we will, we'll make sure that their desire for madness stops right there."

"That we will." Weiss says lowly, then glancing back at the makeshift battlefield that the streets have turned onto. "Come on, they're starting to use their brains and fire on the ship-"

Almost as soon as the words leave her lips, a flurry of rose petals spatter all over where they had been hiding as Ruby bursts forward and smashes the ranks that have joined together to try and take on the ship. Weiss' eyes narrow and she grumbles once more, jumping out after her wife with her friends right behind her.

* * *

Ursa is having a rather rough time of it, when he reaches the hanger to dock his ship. With what he is sure are broken ribs, a disjointed tail, and more than a few bruises, this is certain to be painful for quite a while. Taking off the splintered mask that covers his face reveals yet more bruises, his own narrowed eyes looking back at him in the glass of the cockpit. His cat ears are flat against his skull, as if daring anyone to make a move on him. Not that he needed it in the safety of their base, but he was filled with too much adrenaline for that to matter.

The 'fight or flight' instinct isn't something that wears off quickly, after all.

He hears footsteps behind him and his head turns just a bit to face whoever they are, eyebrows raising when he sees two forms. "Queens Taijitu. What are you two doing down in the docking bay?"

The two women grin in a rather snakelike fashion, their namesake suiting them rather perfectly. Beowolf had been quite correct in giving them that title.

The two women are a bit of an oddity. He trusts their allegiance to the cause, but… that doesn't mean he didn't have this feeling that there was something slightly off-putting about them. One was dressed in all black clothing with white hair and the palest skin he had ever seen, always holding or touching her partner. The other was dressed in all white, dark skin with black hair falling over her snakelike mask. Nero and Krem. The Queens Taijitu.

Krem speaks up first, her husky voice rasping out as she flips her dark hair back. As she speaks, Nero is leaning her body against her partner and playing with the dark locks that had been flipped, not seeming interested in the conversation. "Ursa, you poor thing… Looks like you got your ass kicked a little bit."

"A little bit. It was necessary."

"Oh? So, Beowolf sends their boy toy out to get a few scrapes for the name of research?"

"Watch your tongue, Krem. You're speaking about our superior." Ursa growls as he crosses his large arms across his chest, Nero gasping softly and holding a hand to her mouth as she looks back and forth between the two. Krem merely smirks and gives a small shrug.

"Take it easy, big guy, I was just joking. What's up your ass?"

"Well, I was just in a knock-down, drag-out fight with Yang Xiao Long. She's flattened a truck, before. Not something I liked getting hit with, exactly." He says, grunting as he takes a few steps past her. He stops, however, when another question rings through the silence of the hanger.

"...Can we use her?"

He's silent for a few moments, turning his head to look at Krem. The dark-haired woman is staring at him intently, eyes narrowed and expectant of an answer. Even Nero seems rather focused on his response, despite not having had any prior interest. "I… believe we can. But, she alone is not strong enough. I will need to discuss this with Beowolf before we continue."

"What's there to continue, Ursa? We have the targets, why can't we strike?"

"You're far too impatient, Krem. This is not something we can rush. We need to be certain everything will work so that we can make the most of it. You need to trust in Beowolf. Do you?"

Krem opens her mouth to speak, then closes it with a sigh. "Yeah, I do. It's just… This is taking too long. The longer we wait, the more clues they'll piece together..."

"Krem. We are superior to them. And, we will prove it. We will have the future that you seek. I promise you. Now, I want you to go to Nevermore and tell her I will be back with my findings shortly." He says firmly, the woman slowly nodding before walking off into the facility. Her partner stays behind, glancing up at Ursa.

Her voice is but a soft, eerie whisper when it finally slips out. "She is just eager for us to get what we deserve… We will get it, yes?"

He regards her carefully. "We will."

"Then, that is enough for me. Now, pardon my rudeness, but I must follow my Krem." She whispers, moving off into the facility's dark hallway. The white of her hair melts into the black, gone by the next time he blinks. He can't help but repress a shiver in response.

Definitely something off-putting about that one, in particular.

But, he couldn't linger on that thought. Beowolf was waiting for their information.


End file.
